Matchmaking My Brother
by Aurigae
Summary: What if Draco Malfoy had a little sister? What if she was sorted into Gryffindor? What if she happened to adore the muggleborn Head Girl and wanted to play matchmaker for her and her brother? Imagine the hilarity!
1. Chapter 1

**Matchmaking My Brother**

What if Draco Malfoy had a little sister? What if she was sorted into Gryffindor? What if she happened to adore the muggleborn Head Girl and wanted to play matchmaker for her and her brother? Imagine the hilarity!

CHAPTER 1

The eleven-year-old, blond little girl paid no attention whatsoever to the commotion in front of her. As other first years lining in front of her stood nervously, waiting for their names to be called by Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, for the sorting session with the Sorting Hat; she threw her glance across the Great Hall, briefly at the four long tables occupied by students of all ages wearing four different sets of colors, at the staff table, and was now fixated at hundreds, maybe thousands of candles floating in the air just under the enchanted ceilings, which reflected the starry night sky outside.

Her mouth was open a little. She was quite amazed with the massive number of candles and the size of the hall, as well as the tallness of the ceilings. Not that she had never seen similar things before, in fact her grandiose manor home had a very large hall, too, which could accommodate maybe up to five hundreds people, and many of the ceilings of the two hundreds or so rooms were enchanted as well.

But, this Great Hall of Hogwarts was just… great. Quite much larger than the largest hall in the manor, with much higher ceilings and many more floating candles to light up the room. She was, simply put, quite impressed. And that said something, because she was hardly impressed by buildings, what with her home being one of the largest wizarding manors in Britain.

Hogwarts, however, was at least three times larger, and it had those soaring towers which the manor was lack of. In an instant, she dropped her gaze back at the commotion in front of her. Her sapphire blue eyes gleamed with exciting schemes and plans, and her cherry red lips curled up a little on a corner in complacency.

Oh yeah, Hogwarts was _not_ disappointing. She couldn't wait to explore all halls, chambers and corners of the castle as she had used to do in the manor, making her even more expert of the great stone building than her parents, who had been living there for a considerable more time than her.

Forget about her brother, he wasn't even worth mentioning. That sorry excuse for a boy, although having been born six years earlier than her, might be familiar only with his living quarters in their West wing of the house and slightly with their parents' East wing. He barely even stepped his feet on her living quarters, let alone those for guests.

He was _so_ lazy, took a real effort to get his lazy ass off the couch. Only during meal times and when their parents summoned him that he left his living quarters. Other than that, he ordered the house elves to do practically almost everything for him.

He was only lucky he was a fanatic fan of Quidditch and used most of his leisure times at the manor to practice the sport at their massive back yard, if not lazing around. Otherwise he would surely grow as much fat as his goons aka minions aka dumb bodyguards Crabbe and Goyle. Not that the gene in the family would allow him to be fat and chubby, though.

Speaking of that idiot of a brother, she had seen, from the corner of her eyes, that he had been beckoning to her to look at him from where he sat at a near corner of the Slytherin table, with the two oafs on each of his side beaming somewhat proudly at her (maybe because she was the sister of her brother? Could never understand the way those two thought. Did they ever think at all?).

Her brother had been doing so since she had first entered the hall. Not that she cared, she knew exactly what her brother wanted to say. He had been annoyingly nagging her on the issue since he had returned from his sixth year at Hogwarts for the summer break. He had even made the effort of dragging his feet to her room in the manor when she had refused to answer to his calls, which were conveyed millions of times (okay, not really millions, but _very_ frequently nevertheless) by the house elves, just to remind her that she _should_ be in Slytherin no matter what, or face being a disgrace to the family.

Indeed that was annoying. Even her sometimes very annoying father was not as annoying as him. Her father only specially spoke to her on the issue once, during which he drawled about the nobility of the Slytherin house, and how each and every Malfoy, since the first of them had entered Hogwarts, had proudly always been a member of the house, which accepted only the purest of pureblood families in the Wizarding world, excepting maybe that now dead half-blood maniac Voldemort, whom her father had deceived by pretending to be one of his Death Eaters for years but had actually backstabbed slowly but surely, reluctantly in favor to Dumbledore. Please, that man -her father- was too arrogant to let anyone order him around, thus the reason of his siding with the Light side. He was not that noble, really, to support the cause merely for the sake of defending goodness on Earth.

Apparently, her father was very confident that his cunning daughter would undoubtedly be a prominent member of Slytherin as Malfoys, including her poor excuse of a brother, had always had. She knew how both of her parents knew that she was brighter than her elder brother (not that he was stupid like his two goons, only not as thoughtful and sharp as she was), and her father especially was very proud of her. He seemed to have no slightest doubt that his daughter would never -for the life of Merlin- end up anywhere but in the Slytherin house.

Her brother, meanwhile, seemed paranoid that she would somehow end up in Gryffindor, which he always mentioned with disgust, calling the members of the house a bunch of idiot blood traitors and mudbloods who mistook stupidity and suicidal tendency with nobleness and bravery.

Well, her brother deserved at least a credit for never having it cross his mind that she could probably belong to Hufflepuff. Not that she was being prejudiced or anything like her brother and father, whom she often rolled her eyes at for their outdated pureblood mania. She just thought she was far from being too plain to be a member of that house.

To Ravenclaw she thought she could probably belong because almost every friend of her parents who ever met her complimented her so-called rather superior intelligence. But, even her seemingly-ignorant and dimwitted brother knew she was far from being merely intelligent, that she was also very cunning and often too alarmingly-scheming that Slytherin would happily take her and proudly announce her membership in that house to the rest of the world.

The source of her brother's concern, however, was that she was, too, rebellious and too daring for her own good, that she practically had no fear of anything (not that her brother needed to know that she did have certain fear on certain things that was better be kept secret), giving him a run for his money for it was nearly impossible to make her submit to him by threatening her, scaring her off or blackmailing her.

Heck, even their father's very much-feared wraths did not scare her the slightest. While he had been known to sometimes beat his son when he was very angry, he could barely raise a tone before his much-spoilt daughter. Even his wife had often been a victim to his wrath, though not in physical term. His daughter, however, could be the end of him.

Every time he was so angry and in rage, the anger or whatever that was causing his tone to alarmingly increase and his face to redden in madness would easily dissipate as soon as he saw the puppy-dog eyes of his much-beloved daughter, not that said daughter was not aware of her power over her father and how to make most of it. Who would have ever thought that the infamously mean and scary Lucius Malfoy could be so easily subdued by an eleven-year-old girl?

Anyway, that daring and fearless trait was definitely worthy of Gryffindor, which was why her brother had been somewhat panic. Imagine, the sister of the Slytherin Prince himself, Draco Malfoy, being a Gryffindor? He could be a mock everywhere he went, and no longer would he be able to insult the Gryffindor house in general because that would indirectly mean insulting a Malfoy, too, if -at the worst scheme- that prat that was his little sister was tragically sorted into the house.

Not to mention Potter and the other members of the Golden Trio could then have a little power over him, what with his sister would be within their reach and far from his protection. Not that he cared that much about protecting her, but an attack at her, a Malfoy, would naturally mean an attack at him as well. She could practically be his weak spot if she was ever sorted into Gryffindor. There was no way he could ever allow that!

His sister, however, did not actually mind being placed in the house founded hundreds of years ago by Godric Gryffindor. Imagine the reaction of her father and brother (her cool-headed mother she was sure would not be so troubled, although might be a little bit disappointed), it would surely make some good laugh! Besides, she was rather curious about the infamous Harry Potter and the rest of the Golden Trio, whom her brother had often ranted about. Maybe she could find something from them that could be a source of good laugh at her brother. For her own personal pleasure, of course. She was not that mean sharing laugh at her brother, however poor excuse of a brother he was, with his enemies.

Back to the problem at stake, although Draco was practically yelling at her now (he seemed to think he was still whispering and hissing although -for Merlin's sake- anyone within the radius of 100 meters from him could hear his baritone voice!), she only gave him a brief mind-your-own-business-I-don't-give-a-damn-care look before paying full attention to the headmaster, what with there was only another student in front of her now (she was at the end of the line because of having been too busy looking around before reaching the Great Hall).

And, finally, just after the fellow first-year left the stool of the Sorting Hat (the clumsy boy was sorted into Hufflepuff, predictably) and before her name was called, she puffed up her chest and raised her chin proudly -like any Malfoy should- and fixed her eyes at the Sorting Hat.

And when the headmaster shouted out her name, "CRYSTABELLE MALFOY!", which invited gasps from across the hall (geez, were they that poorly informed that Draco had a sister?) but the Slytherin table, who, again, beamed annoyingly at her (honestly!), she glided gracefully toward the Sorting Hat, taking it off the stool, replacing it with her bottom and putting it on her head, while the rest of the population in the Great Hall watched her between amazedly and curiously.

They were mostly amazed by her striking resemblance with Draco, especially because of their similar platinum blond hair, though hers was shoulder-length and a little bit wavy while his was short. Only a few seemed curious if it was possible for her to be sorted into another house beside Slytherin; the rest seemed more than convinced she definitely belonged to that House they didn't even bother thinking about another possibility. That was why, when the Sorting Hat loudly announced,

"GRYFFINDOR!"

everyone gasped in shock, the Slytherins stared at her in pure terror, and Draco practically fainted.

Crystabelle, meanwhile, beamed happily as she put back the Sorting Hat on the stool. She approached quickly the Gryffindor table -the occupants of which still stared at her in awe, her little feet made that rhythmic dance of little girls when they were happy and preoccupied with something. She smirked that infamous smirk of her brother while her mind repeated one sentence in sing-song tone:

"Fuuun, here I cooome … !"


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, nice to meet you all. Thanks for reading my first-ever fan fiction story, for putting it on your favorite lists, for subscribing to it, and of course for reviewing. Sadly I've only got two reviews so far, but that's okay, although it'll be of course much better if you also review. Anyway, hope you keep enjoying the story! :)**

CHAPTER II

"I DON'T CARE! SHE MUST BE_ SOMEHOW _RESORTED INTO SLYTHERIN!" Crystabelle heard her brother yelling hysterically as she arrived at the entrance of the hospital wing. He had been admitted there after his dramatic fainting in the Great Hall, but only now, almost about an hour later, Crystabelle decided to pay him a visit.

Really, she thought, who could be sillier than Draco, fainting like a girl over trivial matter such as a not-so-expected sorting result. She did _not_ need to sacrifice her premier grand dinner at Hogwarts just to see if he was okay. He was _of course_ okay, only needed some time to gather himself after the shock.

It seemed, however, that Draco had not gotten over the shock yet. He continued to rant hysterically in front of whoever it was listening to him. She decided to delay her entrance and eavesdrop a little. After all it's always best to first study a situation before making any moves on it.

"DO _NOT _SPEAK TO ME WITH THAT TONE, DRACO! I AM _YOUR_ TEACHER!" the other person, apparently a male Hogwarts professor, yelled back at Draco, whom she heard gasp in surprise.

Serve him right, Crystabelle thought. Trust Draco for whining like that at school, and to a professor at that. She rolled her eyes, and listened again, wondering who the professor could be.

"This is a _very _childish act by you, Draco," the professor lowered his tone as the boy whimpered. "I have expected _you_ to be _more_ mature."

"But, you don't understand, my father is going to kill me!"

"And how is that so?"

"Well…"

"It is _not_ your fault she is sorted into Gryffindor. Your father doesn't have _any_ reason to kill you. You exaggerate things, silly boy!"

"But, he has told me to watch over her!"

"Watch over, _not_ ensure she would be sorted into Slytherin. You wouldn't be able to do that even if you were the headmaster. The Sorting Hat has its own will. After six years, I thought you've learned better than that."

"But, I've heard it could give people choice, and I'm sure she was surely given a choice to enter Slytherin, what with her being a Malfoy. My father is going to kill me for failing to lure Crissy and ensure she would choose Slytherin when given the option!"

And her brother was hysterical again.

She rolled her eyes for the second time, and decided to make her grand entrance right at that moment, when the mysterious professor yelled, "ENOUGH…!"

Draco stopped his rants, also because this time he caught the sight of his sister. He immediately narrowed his eyes and scowled. The professor, who appeared to be a tall, dark-haired middle-aged man by the name of Severus Snape, turned around to look at what had drawn Draco's attention, and it was then Crystabelle recognized him.

"Uncle Sev … !" she beamed, and then ran and practically jumped at him, encircling her arms tightly over the chest of the unsuspecting man, who gasped in surprise and because his airway was suddenly cut off. The poor man almost toppled because of the sudden attack.

He stiffened for a moment. It was not every day a little girl, or anyone at that, caught him completely off guard, let alone by attacking him like that. Hell, not even once a year. In fact, as far as he remembered, along the course of his lonely and miserable life, there was only this one little girl who dared to do such thing to him, the only one he had reluctantly given the liberty to do so. And who else that would be but his much-spoilt goddaughter Crystabelle Malfoy?

Upon gaining his self-control back, Snape very carefully, with annoyed look on his face, raised his hand and put it awkwardly on the little girl's head. If that had been any other child, he wouldn't be so troubled and would have quickly ripped them off of him without trying to hide any disgust on his face, and he would make sure that the child would _never_ ever again think about doing any of such despicable things to him. But, this girl, inexplicable as it was, he had found to be somehow rather troublesome to reject.

"There, there, Crissy … " he coughed and then patted the little girl's head uncomfortably, creating indeed a scene which made Draco forget about his misery and snigger, and Snape throw a murderous glare at the boy.

"… There is no need to be so emotional," he inhaled sharply. "I, err… appreciate your attention, but *cough* well… given that *cough* I am now _one_ of your professors, it is only… err… best that we keep our relationship here at professional level, as in, ehem… between… professors and their students? You must know what I mean, yes, Crystabelle…?"

He said the last sentence _very_ carefully, which made Draco snigger even louder. Now the boy was holding his stomach and made no effort to hide his laughter, prompting Snape to glare even more murderously at him, if that was possible.

Thank Merlin the boy's disrespectful behavior successfully drew his sister's attention and made her finally loosen her too tight hold of the Potions master.

He found her staring up at him with big doe eyes, looking somewhat sad, which made him feel instantly bad and quickly pat the blond girl's head again after flashing her a nervous smile (anyone would be hysteric seeing the old bat literally smile! -not to mention it looked rather weird).

"There, there…," he said, trying to cover his guilt. "It does not mean you cannot seek out my help whenever you feel the need to *cough*. Welcome to Hogwarts, and… err… congratulation for being sorted into … Gryffindor," he paused here, his nose screwed in disgust, contemplating briefly never had he thought in million years he would ever one day have to say such revolting sentence.

He sighed, and continued, "I trust you and your brother have a matter to discuss, yes?"

Crystabelle nodded, and now completely removed her hold of the Potions master, which drew a relieved sigh from him.

"Thank you, Uncle Sev… oops, I mean Professor," she said, grinning innocently. He gladly noticed that the sparkle in the little girl's eyes had returned as she stepped away from him and toward her big brother.

"Very well, then, I'll leave you two alone. I hope by this time this is over, _you_ will be healthy enough to leave the hospital and escort _your_ sister to the Gryffindor tower, Draco. And I expect _you_ to settle the matter _more _maturely. Good evening, both of you," he again threw a murderous glare at Draco, who was still sniggering, before awkwardly curling his mouth a little in an attempt to smile at Crystabelle.

He then quickly turned around, swishing his robe during the process, and left the hospital ward, which by that time was empty but for Draco and his sister. Madam Pomfrey should have been inside her office at the moment.

Crystabelle turned around, directly facing her brother, smirk forming on her mouth and mirth in her eyes, which made Draco instantly scowl.

"Why am I not surprised that _that_ whiny baby behavior was surely just one of your very _well-_intended acts?" he sighed, dropping his head on the stood-up pillow.

"But, please… hugging Snape? I thought even you could do better than that," he added, rolling his eyes, so now it was her turn to scowl.

"I forgot he stinks," she wrinkled her nose. "Had to hold my breath, would never do it again. But, at least it was worth it, wasn't it?" now there was a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Draco made a face, but before he could form a sentence, she quickly added, "I mean, whom was it that he called childish? I clearly heard it was _you_, big brother, never thought you would be a whiny type. And, in front of our Godfather, too, of all people? It's pathetic enough I've seen you whining around in front of Mother. Can't imagine what Father would say if he saw you." She smiled smugly.

Draco scowled again, and said, in lack of a more witty response, "Ah, look, the pot calling the kettle black. Imagine _what_ father would say upon hearing you being sorted into Gryffindor."

"Well, what am I supposed to do? The Sorting Hat sorted me into that house, and me and you know it is impossible for resorting. I trust it is you, Draco, that father would like to hear an explanation from. Isn't it your responsibility to make sure I wouldn't choose Gryffindor when the hat offered me the option?"

Draco scowled for the umpteenth time, but this time also decided to give up and sighed, "So you eavesdropped us, huh? Tell me again why I'm not surprised? Anyway, if you sneaky little _prat_ are so cunning, then why for the life of Merlin did the Sorting Hat put you in Gryffindor, not Slytherin?"

"Because it thought I was brave and noble, and said Godric Gryffindor would have been very proud of me if he were still alive," she answered proudly.

Draco narrowed his eyes, "But, it _must_ have also offered you a place in Slytherin, didn't it?"

"It did. As a matter of fact it also offered me a place in Ravenclaw."

Draco narrowed his eyes even more. He felt a crush to his ego, remembering how the Sorting Hat didn't even think he was worthy of other houses and immediately put him in Slytherin even before it touched his head, back then when he was on his first day at Hogwarts. He had used to be very proud of the fact, meaning the Sorting Hat acknowledged him as a Slytherin to the core, didn't it? But, now, somehow it sounded like an insult. He decided to skip the counterproductive thought, though, and back to the problem at hands.

"Then. Why. Did. You. Choose. To be. In Gryffindor?" he clenched his teeth, trying hard not to explode.

"Well… for start I want something new, Draco. I want a change. Don't you think it's boring everyone in the family is a Slytherin? Some of us definitely need to experience other Houses so we can tell more interesting stories to our grandchildren and their children, and so on…"

"ARE YOU INSANE? You're putting my life at stake for this… this tale-telling plan for yet NON-EXISTENT grandchildren?"

Her brother practically roared in anger, but Crystabelle stayed unperturbed as she played her hair with her fingers.

"Relax, Draco… If you're so scared of Father, I can face him for you. We're in this together, you know," she released her hair and reached out the back of Draco's hand to pat it, but he drew it harshly while shooting a murderous glare at her.

He was about to fume again, but then decided he was fighting a losing battle anyway, and began to relax his muscles and sighed.

"Okay, okay… you win. Go to your Griffindorks of friends and tell them I will _kill_ them personally if they ever lie even _one_ of their fingers on you! I will face Father's wrath on my own," he pressed his fingers at his temple now, groaning as he felt the headache coming back.

His sister smiled that too innocent smile at him, and then patted her brother's cheek and gave it a quick peck before he had a chance to react. She then stood up on her feet and then smirked,

"I love you, Draco… Despite all, you know I love you, and I thank you _so_ much for everything."

"Yeah, yeah… whatever. Go! Shoo!" he said as he closed his eyes and tried to shield them from the light with his arm, wishing to sleep the throbbing headache away.

"But, didn't Godfather tell you to escort me to Gryffindor tower?"

"Arrrrghhh…! Go by yourself! I am _more _than positive a girl like you can _very well_ protect your self!"

"Well, then, if that's what you say. Get well soon, big brother, I'll see you first in the morning!" and so she left, humming on her way, leaving Draco grumble in response.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, everyone, nice to see you again! And again I thank you **_**very much **_**for every reviewing, reading, subscribing and or putting my story on your favorite lists! I try my best here to update the story every week; hope it is according to your liking. So far I've got positive reviews, but indeed if there is something nagging your mind about this story, feel free to tell me about it on your review. Here is the third chapter. Enjoy! **

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**CHAPTER III

Hermione Granger was patrolling the corridors of the fourth floor by herself. Her wand was stuck out in front of her as she performed _Lumos _when passing through a dark corridor with hardly any torches on the walls. It was very quiet. All residents of Hogwarts seemed to have retired in their dormitories.

_Tell me again, then, why do I still have to be patrolling at this time of day?_ she thought, and tried to suppress a yawn.

Of course she had to patrol, it was a rhetoric question; she had already known the answer. It was because she was the Head Girl. Oh, yes, after six years of hard work and eyeing the position, she finally made it to seventh year and was appointed the Head Girl. Everyone had already expected it, actually, because who else female students at her year who could come any nearer to her academic scores, which were practically _Outstanding _in every subject?

There had been, however, a few candidates for the Head Boy, all had been prefects in their sixth-year, so some were quite surprised when headmaster Dumbledore decided to give the position to Ernie Macmillan, the former prefect of Hufflepuff. Academically, they said Anthony Goldstein of Ravenclaw was a better candidate, but everyone agreed he lacked leadership skill. Draco Malfoy might make a better leader, but everyone knew the Slytherin was a too horrible bully to be given such an important position. Who knew how far he might abuse it? No one wanted to take the risk. Ron, meanwhile, well… although he was one of Hermione's best friends aside of Harry, she knew better than to entrust the position to a person whose both academic and leadership capacities were very much questioned, let alone his sense of responsibility. Even she had to admit that. Harry could have of course made a good Head Boy, but he had not even been a prefect during their sixth year, and that had yet to mention his not-so-bright academic records.

So, well, actually nobody should have been surprised. Ernie was only the most rational option. Academically, although he was below Anthony, he was still slightly better than Malfoy.

Speaking of Malfoy, she couldn't help but being more than surprised that the snobbish brat had a little sister, let alone who looked very much like him, especially because of that strikingly similar platinum blond hair. She honestly couldn't imagine anyone like Malfoy having a sister, he was too much of a cocky and spoilt brat to be other than a single child (yeah, well, she was a single child, too, but that's beside the point). And his sister … she couldn't help but thinking she was very pretty. Hermione was sure she would be a heartbreaker as she grew up. Not that Hermione thought Malfoy -Draco Malfoy, she meant, not the younger Malfoy girl- was ugly. In fact, although she hated to admit it, he was indeed one of the best-looking guys at school Lavender and Parvati often talked giddily about. So, there was no surprise actually, that his sister would be good looking as well.

But, what surprised her even more, or more like shocked her, actually, was the fact that the Sorting Hat sorted Crystabelle Malfoy into Gryffindor. She thought she almost had a heart attack, although really she had no heart issue, when she heard the hat shouting "Gryffindor!" after it had been placed for quite some time on the little blonde's head. She wasn't being prejudiced, only thought it had been impossible for a Malfoy to be placed in a house other than Slytherin. Yes, it had come across her mind how funny it would have been if the girl had been placed in another house as she had seen her walking toward the Sorting Hat. But, brief as it was, the idea had been far from a serious thought.

And now that the younger Malfoy was really in her house, she could not imagine how it would be for her and for Malfoy -Draco. She was actually a little bit worried that her friends at the House would use Crystabelle to get back to Draco for all the bullying he had been doing to them all those years. As much as she hated Malfoy (okay, it _really_ was difficult to change her habit of calling that _prat_ with his last name, although it could be quite confusing now that there were two Malfoys at the school), she could not possibly let anyone harm the innocent little girl. Yes, she was a Malfoy, and there was a big possibility that she could be as snobbish as her brother, but she was just a little girl and she had been sorted into Gryffindor for God's sake! Surely that meant something, perhaps that she was at least not as evil as her brother.

Hermione decided, not just because she was a Head Girl, but also because she always had this inclination toward helpless creatures (like she had done with the house elves and S.P.E.W, a losing battle she had in the end decided to leave), that she would protect her no matter what. She cringed as she remembered what Ron had told Harry in the Great Hall shortly after the Sorting Hat announced Crystabelle's membership in their house,

"Merlin's beard! She's sorted into Gryffindor! Harry, do you know what this means?" Ron grinned stupidly.

Harry, who was still in awe like the others, could not even process what Ron had said as his eyes followed the little blonde, prompting Ron, who was strangely the faster responder this time, to continue.

"This means Malfoy can no longer wander around acting like he's a king and owner of the world! He cannot bully us anymore because if he does, we can easily get him back through his sister!" Ron's grin grew wider.

Harry finally stared at him, contemplatively, while Hermione disbelievingly.

"Ronald, please!" She decided to say something because Harry was obviously hopeless.

"She is _just_ a little girl! How would you exactly _get_ Malfoy back through his sister? I can't believe you have the nerve, that you would stoop _that_ low into intending to use a little, innocent girl to get back to your enemy! Stay away from her, Ron! I mean it!"

"Her… Hermione! That's not what I mean!"

"What do you mean then? You. Tell. Me!"

"Well, err… we can threaten Malfoy, say we will harm his sister if he does anything that is of our dislike, but… but we won't actually do the threat! Yes, we won't actually do the threat, Hermione. Right, err.. Harry…?"

"Well…" Harry finally decided to speak, while righting the position of his glasses, "that will be ok-kay, I suppose … won't it, Hermione?"

"You are _both_ impossible! You will NOT go anywhere near her, you listen? I will DOCK our own House's points if I have to and give you both detention for the WHOLE YEAR if you try to do anything to her! I can't believe I befriend two mean, heartless people who have it cross their mind about harming a little, innocent girl!" She then furiously rose up from her seat at the long table, deciding to leave the Great Hall at once, too fed up with her two best friends' childish act.

Not that she really believed her best friends could really do something awful to an innocent little girl. She was just angry because they, especially Ron, could even think about some ill ideas, even if they were _not_ gonna take them into actions.

She ignored Harry's calling her and shouting, "We're sorry!" and, before leaving the Great Hall, sneaked a glance to the little blonde that sat near the other Gryffindor first-years at the other end of the table, although they stared rather apprehensively at her and seemed rather reluctant to engage her in conversation. It reminded Hermione of herself when she had been a first year, and she couldn't help but feeling somewhat a sympathy toward the youngest Malfoy. She immediately felt better, though, as she saw the undeterred look on the little blonde's face as she ate her food casually and threw her glance here and there across the hall, absorbing everything around her with amazed and eager look on her eyes, ignorant of her apprehensive peers. It looked like she would be okay.

Back to the present, Hermione decided to end her patrol as it was past midnight and she believed Ernie, who inspected the third floor and under, had retired to his dormitory anyway (she would _not_ come anywhere near the dungeons, which was why she picked up fourth floor and above). She had started up late because she had been too stuck up in the library after dinner, what with her being angry with her two best friends.

She was just about to turn left at a corner when she caught a glimpse of a blonde in the trophy room she had just passed. She drew to a halt, and stealthily directed her steps back toward the room. She then stood still at the entrance, watching a little blond girl busily examining cups and trophies inside the glass cabinets for a moment before deciding to break the silence.

"Crystabelle…?"

The younger girl started, and turned around and looked at her with wide eyes. Her hand, which had been brushing one of the glass cabinets, was now still.

Crystabelle stared at the brown-haired, brown-eyed Head Girl that she immediately thought was very beautiful. She always secretly wished she had hair like that -dark, thick and wavy- because she thought her platinum blond hair made her look like a sick albino. She tilted her head, observing the elder girl more intently, and immediately thought she had pretty eyes and nose and lips and chin as well. She then noticed the red-and-girl strip of her tie signifying she was a Gryffindor and the silver badge on her robe reading "Head Girl". Crystabelle immediately beamed, and stared up straight into the Head Girl's eyes.

"What's your name? Are you the Head Girl?" her voice and the glint in her eyes could not hide her excitement over prospective acquainting with the Head Girl, neither did the way her hand left the glass cabinet and how she turned around to fully face the taller brunette now.

The gestures made Hermione, who had rather stiffened with her wand ready upon encountering the younger Malfoy at this time and place at night, softened at once. She inwardly cursed herself for subconsciously suspecting the first-year of an evil deed or plan just because she was a Malfoy. Quite contrary to her earlier defense of the younger girl before Harry and Ron, actually.

"Yes, I'm the Head Girl. My name is Hermione Granger," Hermione tried to smile as nicely as possible so that the little blonde could not detect her previous suspicion. "And you are Crystabelle Malfoy, correct? What are you doing here this late at night, Crystabelle? Shouldn't you be sleeping in your bed right now?" She also tried hard not to sound mother henning, although was rather itchy to do so considering the circumstance. But, Malfoy or not, Hermione did not want to give the younger girl a bad first impression of herself by instilling in Crystabelle's mind that she acted like a mother hen, which her Gryffindor friends and juniors other than the first years, who were not familiar with her yet, seemed to agree.

She immediately felt glad seeing the younger girl did not seem to be affected with her tone at all , what with her continuing to study her blatantly. But, it made her feel rather uncomfortable and self-conscious, nevertheless, so she cleared her throat, which made Crystabelle look up to meet her eyes again before deciding to come toward her; her glimmering eyes transfixed at the Head Girl badge on Hermione's chest as she approached.

Hermione noticed the younger Malfoy was rather tall for her age as she came to a halt in front of her; the top of her head was about the same level with her ears. Undoubtedly she would be taller than her in the next few years. Also no surprise here because her brother had grown up very tall in the past couple of years, a couple of inches over six feet she believed. Hermione also noticed that unlike her brother, Crystabelle looked nothing near evil nor snobbish. She looked completely innocent and truthful, and Hermione could not sense so far any condescending attitude from the way the little girl gestured and addressed her.

"Oh, the famous Hermione Granger! A muggleborn best friend of Harry Potter and the brain of the Golden Trio. I've heard a lot about you!" she cried with excited tone.

Although the blonde said it good-naturedly, Hermione couldn't help but cringing, especially at the last sentence. Surely she had heard _a lot_ about her from her snobbish brother. But, she also took note on the younger girl's easy using of "muggleborn" instead of "mudblood" as she addressed her, which made her feel inevitably more friendly toward her.

"We haven't got acquainted properly. Yes, I am Crystabelle Malfoy, a first-year Gryffindor. Nice to meet you, Hermione," she unabashedly offered Hermione her small, pale hand.

Hermione decided it was overly silly to be worried over whatever it was she had thought the little girl could be possibly doing or scheming. She dismissed all cautious feelings she had felt ealier, and gave the younger girl a friendliest smile as she shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you too, Crystabelle. However, I believe this isn't the right place and time for us to get properly acquainted. Do you know it's past curfew? Are you having difficulties to get back to our tower?"

Upon catching the words _"our _tower", Crystabelle immediately beamed again because it somehow made her feel she would not be alone anymore. Oh, yes, although she barely had problems with being alone, in fact she enjoyed doing many things alone, it wouldn't hurt to have some friends, whom she wouldn't likely get anytime soon what with other members of her house either looked at her apprehensively or with hatred (she had _strong_ reasons to believe Draco was to blame for that!). Practically all of them seemed to have decided to stay away from her, even her fellow first years whom most likely have been warned by their elder relatives or acquaintances against befriending a Malfoy. She had not met the Head Girl, however, and, upon this encounter, immediately think she _could_ like her because she seemed very nice and friendly, not to mention she was very pretty and intelligent, and was a Head Girl, too, at that!

She decided to show Hermione Granger her best attitudes.

"Sorry... Yes, I know it's past curfew. But, I can't find my way back to_ our tower _(she really liked the way the two words felt coming out of her mouth!) after visiting my brother at the infirmary."

Well, it was true. She did not need to mention, right, that she actually enjoyed being lost as she used it instead to start exploring the castle as soon as possible, as she had planned to do. She just could not wait any longer. She had been a little bit disappointed that her examination of the trophy room was interrupted, but, well, guess it was worth it, given now she got acquainted with the famous Head Girl! She most definitely could continue her explorations any other time.

"Oh, so your brother is still in the infirmary? He fainted just then, didn't he? What could be the problem?"

Crystabelle was a little bemused with the concerned look on the Head Girl's face. With all the bullying Draco had been doing to her (oh, yes, Crystabelle had heard _a lot_ about how her brother constantly picked on the 'Scarhead', the 'Weasel', and the 'insufferable, know-it-all Mudblood'), she thought the muggleborn witch would have never given a damn care whether her brother was alive or dead. She probably even wished he had never been alive. But, well, as interesting as it was seeing the concerned look on the elder girl's face, especially because it triggered _certain_ ideas in her overly-imaginative head, she decided it was wiser to just inform her of the situation.

"Oh, yes, that idiot brother of mine was shocked I was put in Gryffindor. He dreaded any moment that Father would ask him to explain exactly why I was not sorted into Slytherin as they think I should. Apparently he needs some medical treatment to ease his stress."

Hermione couldn't help but laughing, not only because of the content of the younger girl's speech but also because of the way she so casually said it, which made her sound much older than her age.

"But, it wasn't his fault, was it?" Hermione said as she finally managed to stop her laugh. "Why does he have to be so stressed out about that? Your brother is very funny. I mean, yes I understand he has reasons to be stressed, but not to the level where he must be treated in the infirmary. Anyway, indeed, I'm quite surprised myself that the Sorting Hat put you in Gryffindor. I thought every Malfoy should have been a Slytherin."

"Ah ya, well, about that … "

The muggleborn witch, however, decided it was wiser that they soon retire to their dormitories, and thus asked the younger Malfoy to continue her story while they walked up toward the Gryffindor tower.

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**Upcoming ... first Dramione encounter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello... ! Here's the chapter you've been waiting for; the first Dramione encounter! Again thank you for reading, reviewing, subscribing, favoriting and all :D. Let me know what you think of this chapter (and the previous ones if you now have any opinion on them). Enjoy! Hope you like it! :)**

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CHAPTER IV

Draco Malfoy walked back and forth in the Slytherin common room. His long black robe swished every time he turned around to repeat his pace. He looked murderous enough that no one dared to come within visible range from him, the reason why the room was practically empty. Everyone knew better than to be near the Slytherin Prince when he was in one of his worst moods.

Even Pansy and Blaise, who could usually talk some sense into him, had been among the victims of his mad and rather violent barks.

Some silly younger girls thought he looked incredibly hot and sexy while being mad like that, although that did not mean they dared to come anywhere near. Others, meanwhile, were simply frightened and smartly stayed away without risking a single glance.

"Little prat! Look what I'll do to her as soon as I get my hands on her. Slimy, sly little git. Everyone knew she was too good of a slimy snake to be a Gryffindork, but still, she … she … arrggghhh …!"

Draco was sooo angry he had even passed the point where he could no longer form a coherent sentence. He tried to find something within reach to throw, to break, to whatever his hands find interesting to do to channel his anger away, but he had crushed all nearby fragile objects onto the floor that no more thing was left. He was so mad he didn't even flinch when his feet stepped on the sharpened, scattered remains of said objects during his pacing about (not that the soles of his expensive, magically-enchanted shoes would allow sharp objects to cut through and wound his bare feet).

"Arrrrggghhh…!" he again growled in frustration before dumping himself on the green couch; his head on his hands, elbows supported by his thighs.

Draco had actually passed through and survived the most dreaded moment. Just last night, he finally faced his father's wrath as Madam Pomfrey had kicked him out of the infirmary the morning after his fainting, and after he had intentionally avoided the Slytherin common room along the day soon after receiving a mail from his father during breakfast demanding his immediate presence before the fireplace in the common room.

In the evening, however, he had had no excuse to prolong his delaying facing his father. So, upon entering the Slytherin dungeon, he braced himself and went straight to the fireplace, sending everyone in the room away, and called his father through the flames.

Predictably, his father barked at him, calling him a poor excuse of a son and threatening to disown him and beaten him as soon as he returned home for Christmas holiday, which made Draco swear he would not spend the holiday at home then.

Lucius' angry shouts and barks were so loud he felt deafened until now, the next evening. But, at least that ensured no one would have been stupid enough to try to eavesdrop the father-and-son conversation because although they were scared of Draco, they feared Lucius even more. Surely he did not want his friends to catch the humiliating words Lucius used when he lashed out at him.

Anyway, the worst was over, and he felt considerably more relieved now. The only remaining problem, and the reason for his wrath now, was that he could not find that spoilt brat that was his sister to pass on their father's message, as he had ordered him to. Apparently the ignorant little prat had intentionally abandoned their father's owls aimed at her, only replying them once, saying she was okay and happy and had made some good friends in Gryffindor, which of course sparked further their father's fury, which he then unfairly directed to his son. Not that Draco blamed his sister for replying the dozens of letters sent within the course of two days with only one single, very brief letter. Heck, he might do just the same if he were in the same situation (not the being-in-Gryffindor part -that would never happen; but the part of being a subject to dozens of preaching letters). He only hated it that he was the one at the receiving end of his father's wrath when the mistake was his sister's. That was so unfair!

And, now, he did not want to face Lucius' wrath anymore, thank you. So he wished to do his order soon. That way he could immediately send his father a report by owl before the latter decided to again grace him with his undesirable presence through the fireplace.

"Look, Draco, the most sensible thing to do to find your sister is of course looking for her in her dormitory," Pansy finally braced herself to talk some sense into her friend, whom she had once had a crush on but then decided he was too immature for her taste (not that Draco ever saw her in that way).

She had listened quite some part of his rants, so she knew more or less what he was being mad about. She cautiously sat on the other edge of the couch as she talked, though, a safe distance from Draco and yet still within a conversational range.

"Shut up, Pansy! I know that already, alright?" he said in frustrated tone, not even looking at her way.

Pansy inhaled sharply, and replied, "If you know already, then why are you still ranting about here, destroying stuff and scaring people away, instead of getting YOUR LAZY ASS OFF AND CLIMB RIGHT NOW THE STAIRS UP TO THE TOWER!"

He flinched at her sudden screech (Pansy could be pretty scary sometimes!), but did not want to look deterred in front of others, as some people started to pop their heads out from behind the pillars or the doors of their dormitories. So he kept his angry face, and yelled back, "FINE! I'LL GO THERE! SATISFIED?"

He rose up swiftly, and swished his robe as he turned and stormed toward the dungeon's exit.

"Wait, Draco, look! You don't have to go alone. Do you need my company? Or, maybe I can get you Gregory and Vincent or Blaise?" Pansy stood up after him, her voice returned to normal.

Draco shuddered angrily before turning around again to face her and yell,

"WHAT?! You think I'm_ SCARED_ of those idiot, goody-goody two shoes Gryffindorks? You. WATCH. Me, Pansy! I'm going there myself!" He turned around again before marching angrily toward the exit, slamming the door as he disappeared behind it.

Pansy sighed, and pressed her temple as she threw herself back on the couch.

"Well, at least you can talk some sense into him," Blaise said behind her, shrugging, before drawing out his wand and cleaning away the mess in their common room.

Pansy only gave him a weak smile.

* * *

Draco had forgot about how exhausting it was to climb up to the tower from the depths of the dungeons. Just until fifth year, he had often gone up to the Gryffindor tower with his cronies Crabbe and Goyle just to spy on the Gryffindors, but decided it was not worth it anymore when he was in sixth year. Let Potter wander around at night as he liked, the prat might just be insomniac or a sleepwalker. Like hell he cared!

Now he was reminded again of the hundreds, maybe even thousands of stairs he had to climb up to get to the tower, and cursed the layers of wards placed at Hogwarts that made it impossible for him to just Apparate. He rolled his eyes, wondering what turning 17 meant if he could not use it to its fullest by using every kind of permissible magic he wanted. Surely Apparating and Disapparating would save time and energy. Not that he was packed with loads of schedules, but that was beside the point.

He finally arrived before the portrait of the Fat Lady, gasping for breath, prompting the fat woman in the painting to raise her eyebrow.

"What is a Slytherin lad like you doing here? It is the Gryffindors' area, you know," she said in a high-pitch tone, with suspecting look in her eyes.

Draco decided to ignore her, he was not pathetic enough to talk to paintings. The Fat Lady seemed upset, her eyes narrowed, but decided to ignore him as well, her chin up in the air.

As he managed to breathe normally again, he began to pace a little, thinking about the way he could get his sister to meet him. It would be easy if at least one of those stupid Gryffindors was around, thus he could tell them to get his sister for him. But, no one was around although he had been standing and pacing about at the entrance for at least 15 minutes!

Should he knock? But, that was too silly, he would surely laugh at anyone he saw doing such thing. Should he shout out before the painting, calling out for his sister then? But, people inside might just ignore him, and he would feel like a fool shouting without no one responding. No, a Malfoy could not look nor sound like a fool.

And, so, he decided to wait. Just after he leaned his shoulder against the walls at some distance next to the painting, though (he did not want to stand too near to the annoying painting, thank you), it was opened and someone, a girl, came out from behind it. She stopped in front of the painting after closing it, and did not see Draco as she was busy fixing the position of the bundle of books on her right arm and the bag on her left arm.

And Draco, quite uncommonly, was stunned. Since the brunette just came out, although he only caught her profile briefly, he was struck; thinking how stunning she was and wondering if he had ever seen her before. He decided to check her out while she did not notice, pushing himself slowly off the walls as he began focusing his eyes on her smooth, wavy chocolate brown tresses which framed her face nicely, with some soft-looking locks falling perfectly over her sweater-covered chest.

Then he stared down at her flawless face, with soft alabaster skin and rosy cheeks and a cute button nose, and then slowly at her deep red, lump lips... which made his heart skip a beat. He went back up then; staring at her dark, long and curly eyelashes, although unfortunately he couldn't see her eyes yet as they were looking down at where she was checking something inside her bag. So, his eyes traveled lower to her creamy white neck, and then down to her chest - where they lingered a while, and then to her slim waist and nice hip (oh, yes he knew they were slim and nice, all right, again he could quite see the outline despite the vest), at her nice school skirt that reached her knees, and finally at her long, slender legs that looked amazing enough despite being covered by black stockings.

It was only then he realized one of the feet was tapped. So, his gaze quickly traveled back up, and that was when he saw her eyes, the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen: big and rich in spectrum of browns, somehow seemed to range between hazel and the deepest shade of brown the nearer it was to the black pupils. They were deep, and seemed glittering, and emanated what he reckoned as passion and intelligence. He felt like drowning in those eyes until the owner cleared her throat, waking him up from his trance.

"Malfoy … What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" she gritted her teeth, and that was when the magic disappeared and he recognized her.

"M-mudblood…?" His eyes widened at the realization.

His remark, however, made the blush that had formed on Hermione's cheeks upon finding that the Slytherin Prince was checking her out turn instantly into an angry red.

"Don't you think you should have been more careful saying such a derogatory word in the den of the enemies?" she now folded her arms on her chest, which drew Draco's attention back there.

She cleared her throat again, blushing uncomfortably and loosening the fold of her arms as she realized what the Slytherin Prince was staring at.

Draco's face also reddened for being caught doing, err… whatever he was doing. Since when did the Mudblood turn out so hot? She was … what's the right word? Pretty? Beautiful? No, it's more like … stunning. Yes, Draco thought, she was very stunning. Suddenly, he felt like the air around him becoming too hot, so he unconsciously moved his hand to unbutton the top button of his shirt, which made Hermione narrow her eyes.

Realizing what he was doing, Draco quickly gathered himself and immediately restored his ignorant façade (it's not that difficult after lots of practicing). He lazily dropped his hand and put it in his pocket, leaning back against the walls, and examining the fingers of his other hand as if he had no care in the world.

"Actually, Mudblood, I just wonder if you could fetch me my little sister," he drawled lazily.

Hermione was positively fumed. Couldn't he at least try to ask more politely if he needed her help?

"And what makes you think I would want to do that for you, Ferret? Try asking more nicely if you want the person you're asking to to give you some help!" She decided to leave the jerk and head straight to the library, ignoring her helpful tendency because this was the rude Ferret Boy, for crying out loud!

But, her steps were soon interrupted as his strong hand grabbed her upper arm and forced her to turn back around and face him.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? Please, just fetch me my sister!" Draco, in moment of desperation, forgot to maintain his previous careless facade.

He also didn't remember to let go of her arm quickly, relishing at the feeling of the delicate arm despite its being covered by the wool of her sweater. He was staring at where his fingers curled around said arm.

Only after Hermione coughed nervously and tried to move her arm, her cheeks again turned slightly pink, that Draco again realized what he was doing and quickly let go of her.

"Okay, I'll get your sister," Hermione turned around quickly, trying to hide the blush she was sure beginning to again form on her face, but soon stopped at seeing the very object of their conversation approaching them slowly.

Both of them, as if being hypnotized, only watched the little girl as she bounced cheerfully on her small steps, until she stopped, grinning, in front of them.

"Oh, hello, Hermione! Hello, Draco!" she greeted them with highly cheerful tone, her face looked perfectly innocent and she showed them her perfect white pearl teeth.

"Oh, Crystabelle, your brother is looking for you," Hermione said, still somewhat nervously, before deciding to step away from the two siblings.

"Yes, thank you, Hermione. I bet Draco is," Crystabelle said, this time with certain mirth in her eyes and a subtly weird tone in her voice, which only Draco caught and was why his eyes were currently narrowed at the blond girl.

"Okay then, see you again, Crystabelle, Draco," Hermione nodded, before quickly escaping toward the library, her original destination.

Only after walking for a few hundreds meters did she realize she had just called the Ferret Boy with his given name! Gosh, she was sooo embarrassed and was cursing herself now. How could the intelligent, independent and powerful Hermione Granger, the current Head Girl of Hogwarts, act like a silly school girl, blushing and nervous and all, only after being given that look by the Slytherin prat? She prayed to heaven and Earth that Malfoy didn't catch her slip of tongue, or had to wish that the Earth would swallow her next time he was around. Otherwise, she would just have to pretend that there had been no big deal about her addressing him with his given name; it was just a slip of tongue.

She cursed herself here; of course there was no big deal. Why should she make it a big deal? She continued her journey to the library, again cursing herself for her momentary stupidity.

Her first prayer was evidently not answered, though, as Draco Malfoy was completely aware of the Head Girl's first time use of his given name, which made him feel something funny within the cage of his rib.

He was still in a trance, eyes fixed at the empty spot where she had been last seen, before being brought back to reality by his annoying sister.

"Earth to Draco, Earth to Draco," his sister irritatingly waved her hand in front of his face, with knowing look in her eyes and annoying tone in her voice.

"You. Better. Shut. Up," he said, catching her small hand somewhat abruptly, forcing it to stop, while his eyes glared daggers down at hers.

But, the younger Malfoy was barely affected. Despite her much inferior height, she kept looking up at him with those knowing smirk and look, which added more to his growing frustration and made him growl loudly.

* * *

**Responding to MasterArbor's question of why in this story Snape was still alive when Voldemort had died (thx again for the review!), which might confuse some of you, too, I must say that I don't mean to make "Matchmaking My Brother" compliant with all JK Rowling's seven books. You can say that in the world of this story, Voldemort died before he was resurrected as in Book 4. So, Cedric Diggory was alive here and so on, although I don't plan to feature him at all. Feel free to ask more nagging questions! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello, nice to see you again. As I've promised, I've been updating this story once a week, but I think I'm getting slower in producing new chapters lately because of job and all; hopefully I'll still be able to keep up with my promise. Anyway, again thanks for all reading, reviewing, subscribing, favoriting and all :). I accept critics, inputs, questions or anything (unless some very cruel comments perhaps :P), so don't hesitate to leave any remarks if you feel there's something you need to say.**

**And fyi, as I've told NessaWayMalfoy (thx for reviewing again :D), I want to make this a light story, that's why in the world of this story, I made Voldemort die before he was able to create dark times and miseries for the characters; otherwise it wouldn't do. **

**Happy reading! :)**

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CHAPTER V

Weeks had passed since the eventful night. The Gryffindors went through them eerily at peace, mainly because unlike in the previous six years, the Slytherins, weird as it was, decided to stop picking on them and leave them unscathed. Instead the snakes had started to divert their favorite hobby of assaulting others toward the annoyed Ravenclaws and the poor, unsuspecting Hufflepuffs. Although members of the last two houses were not as fun to annoy as the easily-provoked Gryffindors, it was better than no fun at all.

The Gryffindors were of course aware that these changes had something to do with the presence of the young Malfoy heiress among them. Apparently Draco Malfoy did have undisputed power over his peers. What else could be the reason why the Slytherins avoided the Gryffindors other than because the Slytherin Prince told them to? Surely he did not want the Gryffindors to try to get him and his peers back using his sister.

And this, well, made the Gryffindors couldn't help but feeling a little grateful and thus also a little more friendly toward said sister, although they mostly remained cautious whenever she was around.

Not that they were fear of the Slytherins, but, still, who would want to pass a very good opportunity for a peaceful year of study? This was especially true for the seventh years, who were having their last year in Hogwarts and wanted to make the most out of it. The lower years seemed to be copying their seniors.

Oh, yes, they most definitely could enjoy the peace, although they pitied the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and still found it creepy that whenever they had braced themselves for an attack from some Slytherins -especially Malfoy and his cronies- that they had the misfortune to encounter, the latter only threw them some brief glance, if not completely ignoring them, which was quite disconcerting for some Gryffindors. It was also _utterly_ creepy that whenever the sullen Potions master passed by their table in the Great Hall during meal times, he would every now and then throw his glance over the table and curved his mouth a little around the corners in a pathetic, horrifying attempt to smile! -which was apparently directed at the younger Malfoy, whom they had quickly learned to be his goddaughter. Thank Merlin he still acted his usual biased acts in classes, or wherever she was not around, otherwise the Gryffindors would surely go mad! There were only so many changes that one could handle at a time.

To the Slytherin Prince himself, however, the fact that his sister was in the den of the enemies and that he had to treat them nicely to avoid getting troubles when he needed to reach her and all were strangely barely the reason why he didn't feel like tormenting them, as he had done for years.

Neither did the matter with his father, which had been thank Merlin settled as soon as he had been able to drag his sister to the Slytherin common room, where their father finally managed to talk to her through the flames. Predictably, Lucius lost his wrath or whatever that was as soon as he was presented with the delicate figure of his daughter and the glitters of excitement in her innocent eyes as she excitedly told him about her exploration of the halls and chambers of Hogwarts, about the funny way the Gryffindors treated her -their apprehension and cautiousness and all, exciting books she had found in the library, and quite many other things … that Lucius, simply put, forgot what had made him enraged earlier and didn't feel like barking anymore. Instead, he stared fondly and lovingly at his daughter, smiling proudly at her, and addressing her with a very fatherly tone which sounded _just_ ridiculous and _impossible_ coming from him! Anyway, his fury had ended now that Draco could enjoy peace again.

But, then came another problem. And it was this problem that had been preoccupying his mind quite heavily recently that he didn't bother about tormenting people nor doing any other things but thinking about … said problem. He often found himself staring emptily at nothing, which actually drew the attention of his closest friends whom he told to go to hell and mind their own business whenever they started to question his unusual behavior. Gladly, no one noticed (oh, he's a Slytherin all right, and the prince, too, at that! So he could be _very _stealthy if he wanted to) that his eyes would immediately become alert again whenever he was in _her_ presence. His heart would beat exceedingly faster, and he would find it very hard to fight the urges to turn his head around and stare blatantly at her to take in her beauty, which drew him like a magnet now.

Draco seemed to be hopelessly addicted to her. He just could no longer pass his days without staring at her passionate eyes, or the mirth there whenever she laughed, and without listening to her bossy tone when she addressed her friends, or her know-it-all one when she answered the professors' questions in classes.

This was something completely new to Draco Malfoy. He had never felt these kinds of things toward anyone before, thus his quite many contemplating and stargazing since that night, the night he had seen Hermione Granger in a new light.

He couldn't possibly be falling for the muggleborn witch, could he? That was impossible! There was _no_ such thing as falling in love at first sight! Oh, well, okay, it wasn't exactly the first sight, but … well, that was beside the point! The point was he did _not_ and could _never_ fall in love with Hermione Granger. That was just … revolting.

He admitted that she did look good. Oh, hell, he would even admit that he thought she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen face-to-face, which was quite weird, actually, given that he had seen her for the past six years and only recently he had started to think so. _Okay_, he would admit again that since the first time he had seen her inside Hogwarts Express during their first year, he had actually thought she was kind of pretty despite her bushy nest hair and rather large front teeth. And, sometimes, such as during the Yule Ball in fourth year and somewhere during fifth and sixth years, she had stunned him with her beautified appearances.

But, this was different. He had never been awestruck like that night, and up till then she had never made his heart beat exceedingly faster every time she had graced him with her presence, and she had _never_ been a constant presence in his mind as of lately. Looked like she had changed much during last summer.

Draco felt miserable. He couldn't, and _shouldn't _fall for her. She was a muggleborn witch, for Merlin's sake! What would his father say? Oh, hell, why should he think about his father? It's not like he was going to marry her. Oh, so did that mean he wanted her to be his girlfriend or something? Merlin, he was really going mad! Why couldn't it be any other girl? Anyone but her. They had been enemies for too long to drastically change their relationship into an affectionate one; not to mention what his friends would say and her friends would do to him if they ever entered a relationship (let's skip here the part concerning her feelings on the matter). Oh, so he started to think about a relationship now? And with _her, _of all people? He was utterly hopeless.

"Draco, Draco," he was snapped out of his thoughts by shakes of his arm, which was apparently his sister's doing.

He was still in a daze, though, so other than glancing briefly toward her and mumbling, "Hmmm…?" he made no effort to change his position where he was lying flat on his back under a shady tree by the Black Lake. His two arms were folded under his head, supporting it, and one of his legs was crossed over his raised up thigh. He was somewhat facing the lake. It was in the afternoon, he had just finished his classes for the day, and still had not changed from his school robe.

Crystabelle dropped herself beside her brother, studying his dazed expression before asking, "What are you doing here, Draco? Aren't you feeling cold?"

Her brother only answered shortly, "Nothing. No," this time without even glancing her way.

Although befuddled with his lack of responsiveness, which was quite uncommon for him, Crystabelle grinned. It was actually when she liked her brother at most, because only then she could do things quite freely in front of him, or to him at that, without having to risk any of his annoying rants.

So she lazily dropped her head over his vest-covered flat stomach, which, to her delight, still barely invited any response from him. He must be quite preoccupied with something, whatever that was, she thought. Well, let him be, it was not often he was _this_ 'pleasant'.

Crystabelle copied his brother's pose, crossing her leg over her raised up thigh, before opening the book she brought with her and started to read it. The early autumn breeze blew softly upon her, but she barely felt the chill. Draco must have cast a warming charm over his body because she could quite feel the effect.

"Draco…" she said after some time, during which she thought her brother should have been sleeping.

He muttered in response, so apparently he was still awake.

"Are the basilisks extinct?"

He didn't answer.

She huffed, and used her elbow to support her head so that she could look up at him without having to leave his warm, although rather hard stomach.

"Are the basilisks extinct?" she asked it more loudly, putting some pressure on his stomach using her elbow, which finally drew his attention although he was scowling at her now.

"Basilisks could kill people only by looking at their eyes, or petrify them if they didn't look at them directly. Now if they can do that, killing and petrifying, so easily, why are there no longer reports on anyone being petrified or murdered by basilisks? Does that mean they're extinct now?"

He only grumbled, which made her getting more impatient.

"Draco!"

"I don't know, all right? How would I know?"

"Okay, so I guess they're extinct," she threw her head back on his stomach, planning to resume her reading, but her brother then interrupted.

"I don't think they're extinct. If they are, they should be included in the book _'Extinct and Ancient Magical Creatures'_, but they're not. So I guess they're still there somewhere."

She shivered upon hearing that. "Then, why are there no more reports on the killing and petrifying after that time when the Chamber of Secret was opened? You were in second year, right? And Father gave the diary to Ginevra Weasley. Good for him the snake didn't kill Hermione Granger and … what's the boy's name again?"

She felt him flinch a little when she was saying the last part, but he answered to her quickly she did not have a time to analyze what it was.

"Maybe some people manage to tame them."

"But that's impossible! Only Salazar Slytherin, Voldemort and Harry Potter can speak Parseltongue, and Harry Potter is the only one who's still alive and I don't think he's taming some basilisks somewhere."

"You just don't know; there could be some other Parseltongues out there who may be living in exile with their cute little Basilisks to tame. They're just not as hungry for fame as the _Boy-Who-Wouldn't-Die_," he sneered, finally really waking up from his trance upon mentioning his arch enemy.

And that was when the Head Girl passed by. Apparently she was just returning from Hagrid's hut, paying the half giant some visit, and was now walking down the lane which came across where Crystabelle and her brother sprawled lazily. She was tightening her robe before looking up, and that was when she met a very uncommon sight which drew her to a halt.

Draco caught her eyes, and couldn't take his off hers. His heart skipped a beat, as it always had now whenever she was around. He noticed she quickly fixed her stare at his sister, so he freely took in her _rather_ nice appearance, enjoying the sight of her, which had inevitably become one of his hobbies despite his internal struggle to resist it.

"Good day, Hermione! Fancy seeing you here! Care to join me and Draco?" Crystabelle broke the silence with her cheerful greeting, her hand waved excitedly, as she was finally aware of the elder girl's presence. She lazily stayed glued on Draco's stomach, though, as she was now grinning stupidly at the muggleborn witch.

Draco's eyes bulged upon catching his sister's silly offer, but he lay still and decided to remain silent and watch the interaction between the two girls. He noticed the elder Gryffindor looked rather uncomfortable.

He could see she was trying to respond nicely to his sister, and to control her reaction although he was sure she felt an itch to just lash out on the offer as it was simply _preposterous_ anyone in their right mind would suggest such thing as Hermione Granger hanging around him. Even he found the idea to be as ridiculous. But, well, his sister was _never_ in her right mind, and the muggleborn witch did not seem to have a heart to inform Crystabelle of her long bad history with him. He, meanwhile, was just not in the mood to raise up the issue.

Anyway, Draco made a mental note that it looked like Hermione had befriended his sister and didn't want to disrupt said friendship or whatever that was.

He noticed she tried to compromise the situation by pretending he was not there, as she only addressed and looked at Crystabelle and completely ignored him, which felt not only insulting, but somehow also rather sting. To his delight, however, he also noticed how the brunette was as a matter of fact _completely_ aware of his presence. Look at how she looked nervous and all. Surely she wouldn't be like this if it were only between her and his sister. He smirked at the realization, but quickly wiped the smirk off his face for one could only be too careful when being around his annoyingly too perceptive sister.

"Thank you, Crystabelle, but, uhm… I'm not sure I want to interrupt your … family moment, with your brother."

"Of course you're not interrupting us. She's not, right, Draco?" Crystabelle grinned and glanced briefly at him, didn't really wait for his response (she was positively insane if she really expected him to respond to such silly question).

"Come Hermione, we were just discussing about basilisks, if they're already extinct or not. You must know more about it than me and Draco," she went on.

Draco narrowed his eyes at his sister, never liking it that she sometimes belittled his intelligence, but saw that the Head Girl didn't seem to know what to say to the offer. She looked tempted enough, surely she did not want to miss the opportunity to brag about her broad knowledge on every single subject learnable from books, and it seemed that she really felt bad about rejecting his sister. But, hell would surely freeze over the day she willingly hung around him.

Good for her right just then her two goons came and saved her from the uncomfortable situation.

"Hermione, what are you doing here? I thought you said you needed to return to the castle immediately," said Weasley, who was tailed by the Boy-Who-Unfortunately-Still-Lived.

And that was when they both saw him and his sister, and immediately came to a halt as well. Their eyes widened, and the two oafs didn't seem to be able to move nor say anything. They seemed to be ridiculously amazed with the sight of him and his sister.

Draco _really_ didn't like being stared at like that, let alone by his arch enemies. He was _very_ itchy to say something awful just to make himself feel better. But, he was actually also a little bit curious on how exactly his sister would address the two Gryffindors now he knew she was on the Head Girl's good page. So, he kept silent.

And, of course, what else should he expect from the spoilt brat's overly-ridiculous head?

"Hello, Harry Potter! Hello, Ron Weasley! Care to join us too? Me and Draco are talking about basilisks here when Hermione came … " she greeted them as cheerfully, as if they had been the best friends of her brother instead of his arch enemies, and went on with her rambling, completely ignorant of the two oafs' dumbfounded stare and obvious discomfort.

It was then he heard _her_ beautiful, ringing laughter, before she spoke up.

"Now I don't think the three of us wouldn't interrupt you and your brother, Crystabelle. Thanks for the offer, but, really, I guess it'll be much better next time. Besides, it'll be dark soon. As for the basilisks, I remember reading it somewhere that traces of a very few of them have been found somewhere in Africa and Asia a few years ago, so I guess most probably they're not extinct yet," Hermione smiled, and Draco thought it made her look even more beautiful that his heart beat even much faster and his stomach now made a flip flop movement. It was the first time she directed her smile toward his direction (yeah, well, not exactly his direction, but still…).

He kept staring at her as she walked away with her two best friends after bidding them farewell (again she didn't exactly address him, but the way she said it made him think she actually did too, albeit subtly), and thus failed to notice that her sister caught what he was doing and was now smirking knowingly at him _again_.

"You fancy her," she said simply.

"What?" he stiffened, and glared at her.

"You fancy Hermione Granger. It's so obvious."

"I do not!"

"You can't take your eyes off her, and you're very nervous whenever she's around that you become completely speechless, which is very unlike you. Don't you think I don't know, Draco," she smiled smugly as she lowered her tone upon saying the last part, with mischievous glint in her eyes.

"I. Do. Not. Fancy. Her!" he woke up suddenly, standing up and almost sending Crystabelle toppled if not for her fast reaction.

"Hey!" She protested, pouting her lips and sitting upright, but Draco ignored her as he angrily brushed dirt and grasses off his robe and pants before bending down toward her and saying in threatening tone, eyes narrowing,

"Get _that_ stupid idea off your head, and _don't_, I said _don't_ even think about doing _anything_ stupid like sharing it with anyone."

He then stood upright and turned around sharply, heading back toward the castle and leaving Crystabelle alone with her book.

Crystabelle stared at his back for a moment, and then her smirk came back, feeling satisfied she had found another of his brother's secrets. His defensive reaction, if anything, only confirmed her suspicion.

She decided to follow up on the newly-found interesting fact later on, though, and to continue at the moment her relaxed, reading time, although regrettably she lost a pillow now. It might not be comfy enough, but still better than nothing at all. She lay down at her back under the tree, right at the spot where her brother just left, after casting a warming charm over her body. Then she continued her peaceful reading with more or less the same pose she had been in before the interruption.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello, everyone, nice to see you again! Having wanted to update this chapter since like yesterday, but have only had a chance to do it now. Again thank you for reading, reviewing and all; still wish to see what you think about this story, this chapter or the previous ones. Enjoy! :D**

CHAPTER VI

Hermione Granger noticed, all right, that boys now gave her _that_ look, which in the past had used to be bestowed to her only occasionally when she had dressed up and worn make-up. But, now, even without those, they still gave her _that_ look, which she honestly wasn't really sure how to react to.

She of course felt flattered. Secretly she had always wished boys would look at her that way after years of having two boys as best friends slowly made her question her physical quality. Although her feelings for the two boys were completely platonic (she had thought she had had a crush on Ron once, but even laughed at the ridiculous idea now), she realized she had at some level expected them to also see her for her look, not merely her brain and personality. The fact that they were completely ignorant of said look, well, that kind of deflating, making her feel unattractive at all, especially when they shared with her their infatuations with this or that girl or when she saw the look in their eyes when they stared at said girls. That time she had thought there must have been something wrong with her … physical attributes. Once again _not_ that she had wanted (she still didn't want, _okay_) to have more than platonic relationship with either of her bestfriends.

Anyway, despite the being flattered part, she also couldn't help but feeling uncomfortable with the way boys often checked her out there and then now (still excluding her boys, a fact she now sincerely thanked Merlin). So, more than ever, she felt happy her two bestfriends were boys because, conscious or not, they discouraged unwanted, irritating boys from coming her way.

And at the moment, to be honest, she couldn't care less. There was currently _no_ boy that made her feel the need for her boys to lift the effect they had on yet.

Anyway, upon thinking about the issue over, she realized she had hardly developed any feelings for any boy. The first time she had seen a boy with more than just platonic feelings was when she got acquainted with Victor Krum. But, even then it was not because she fancied him; it was more because she was flattered that such famous Quidditch seeker as Victor would pay her that sort of attention. That time when he asked her to come to the Yule Ball with him and when they finally appeared at the ball together, she felt like a Cinderella being swept off her feet by a prince charming.

She realized, then, she only _fancied_ liking him, and never really liked him more than a friend, which she politely mentioned in one of her letters to him as he seemed to get the wrong idea. They sent less letters ever since, and stopped sending at all for the past year.

As mentioned earlier, she also thought she fancied Ron once. And she actually wept when she first found him going out with Lavender. But, then she realized the case was not much different from that with Victor. She only fancied liking Ron, _not _really liking him as in more than a friend, although in this case it was a little more intensified what with her silly expecting one of her boys to acknowledge her physical quality back then, which now just sounded utterly ridiculous and embarrassing anyway. She felt stupid with her crying over Ron then. She felt embarrassed, until now, that Harry had seen her during that one of silliest moments in her life, but thanked God Ron knew nothing about that. Oh, she would make sure he would _never _know. That was just beyond embarrassing.

Other than those two, Victor and Ron, she barely felt anything toward members of the opposite sex (she did _not_ take her silly little girl crush on Gilderoy Lockhart into account, thank you, that was just way _too_ silly). She wouldn't deny she found some boys, including some at school, look rather attractive, but that did not necessarily mean she would feel an attraction toward them. She found it she looked beyond looks, and thought it looked like she was into more mature guys. Not as mature as her old professors, of course. Please, that was … sick. What she meant was boys a few years older than her. Unfortunately, such boys were hardly around now that she was in her final year at Hogwarts. And when they had been around in the previous years, well, she had just been a little girl.

So, Hermione thought she would just enjoy boys' attention to her now and do nothing about that. Besides, she had NEWTs to come, and thus no time for a relationship.

It was actually kind of hillarious in some cases, the boys' attentions to her, such as the way Neville became even much more clumsy and nervous around her now (she really pitied him, but it wasn't like she could do anything about that), or Collin Creevey secretly took her pictures here and there (he tried to do it secretly, but he was just not stealthy enough), or Ernie MacMillan looked too eager to do whatever it was she asked him to without thinking twice (not that she made use of the situation for her own benefit).

She even noticed how some elder Slytherin boys gave her that look, even the Ferret Boy! She remembered how his eyes widened and mouth agape that night upon realizing it was actually her. It was funny, indeed; his expression was very comical and the idea alone, that the Slytherin Prince just gave the mudblood a checkout, was hilarious!

Anyway, he seemed barely affected with her presence afterward. It looked like he had quickly gathered himself upon realizing it was just her. Strangely, it felt rather insulting. But, what did she want then? For the Ferret Boy to actually fancy her? That was sick.

Hermione, however, must say that she had been thinking about the insolent blonde more often lately, mostly because of the changes in his attitudes. Really, it was sort of weird to see the Slytherin, who usually picked on her and her two bestfriends, now completely ignore them. Yes, she knew it had things to do with his sister being among them, but even the idea that he changed because he was being considerate with his sister's well being, well … it felt really weird. It made him seem completely out of character. In fact it made him seem not like him at all.

The way he acted like a brother he was supposed to be made him look more … mature. And Draco Malfoy and being mature were not supposed to fit well.

Oh, no, she didn't like the direction of her train of thoughts. She did _not _just think Malfoy seemed to be more mature as in the way she liked more mature guys. That was completely irrelevant!

She huffed, deciding to stop at once the train of thoughts that had gone rather counterproductive, and increased the speed of her steps as she made her way through the long corridor, heading to the library just before she was … smacked onto someone!

"Ouch!" she cried as her forehead hit the chin of the other person, and she lost her balance and would have fallen if not for the other person who, with a speed of a well-trained Quidditch player, caught her arms. As it was, the ones falling freely onto the floor were her books, her precious books! Upon realizing this, she did not even bother to look at the person she had smashed onto, and quickly dropped herself to gather the scattered books. Only after said person dropped on his knees and helped her collect the books, handing them over to her, that she looked up at his face, and found a pair of piercing blue eyes staring down at her.

"Thank you … Zabini," she smiled genuinely at the dark-haired Slytherin, which she thought was rather handsome but too quiet it was rather unnerving.

"Uhmm… that's okay," he returned her smile, though seemed rather unsurely, as he followed her standing up.

"In fact, I guess I should be saying sorry, should I? Guess I was walking around the corner too fast. So; sorry…" he again offered her his unsure smile.

"That's okay," Hermione replied and, for not knowing anything else to say to the too quiet Slytherin, quickly added,

"Well, I gotta go to the library now; have to return these books and all. See you around…!" She waved her hand briefly as she walked past him, completely unaware that the eyes of the tall Slytherin followed her until she disappeared behind a far corner.

The truth was, Blaise was not unsure about his smile. In fact, he was very happy that he smiled, which he didn't do quiet often, preferring to look emotionless. He was also quite nervous, and because he was not used to let such rather weak emotion shown, he covered it by somehow turning the supposed-to-be-nervous smile into an unsure one. He did not mean to make it look like that, but that was the best that he could do.

Now Blaise again smiled, this time genuinely, for he thought he was alone in the long corridor and was relishing his encounter just a minute ago with Hermione Granger.

There was indeed a benefit for being quiet, he thought, quite contrary to what Hermione had on mind just then (not that he knew of it). As his other Slytherin friends, Blaise had thought Purebloods were simply better than the others, the Halfbloods and Mudbloods alike. But, unlike his friends, he had thought better than bragging about the purity of his Italian wizarding ancestry nor insulting others 'lower' than himself. He was just not into those things.

And, look at what it did him; nothing but goodness. If it had been any other Slytherin she was just smacked onto, he was sure Hermione would not have smiled that beautiful smile. He had always secretly admired the muggleborn witch. In fact, it was her outstanding magical ability, her shining confidence and graceful moves, despite her heritage, that had made him slowly but surely loosen his uphold of his old bigoted pureblood beliefs. Hermione had effortlessly proven that all those beliefs, that tainted bloods and mudbloods were slower and ugly and weak and all, were wrong. She was anything against what narrow-minded Purebloods thought they would find in a muggleborn.

Blaise kept on smiling as he turned around, continuing his nicely-interrupted trip to the dungeons. He did not notice a blond head that just disappeared behind a corner, its eyes glared daggers at the back of his head as he walked past the corner, with the dreamy smile, which was very unlike him, still attached on his face.

The blonde, who appeared to be none other than his bestfriend Draco Malfoy, clenched his fists quite tightly the nails were digging into the skin of his palms. But, he didn't care. He did not understand exactly what possessed him, but he felt enraged watching the scene that had just been unfold before him. He couldn't be mistaken; that dreamy look on Blaise's face … his bestfriend fancied the Gryffindor Princess! He felt his blood boiled, but refused to admit, albeit inwardly, that he was being jealous.

_No_. He was _not _being jealous. He was _not_ feeling jealous with Blaise over Hermione Granger!

He had decided it was just a silly little crush, whatever it was he had recently felt about her. He had decided not to follow up on the ridiculous infatuation (if that even had been an infatuation), and to dismiss every single thought regarding her coming over his head recently. He had also decided to ignore any single reaction of his body so easily triggered by her mere presence, and ignored her all the same. He would _not _even look her way whenever she was around, even if he was very itchy to do just that.

He thought he had got over her. But, why was he now becoming enraged only by watching the innocent encounter between her and Blaise? He was enraged with the encounter, he was enraged because of the feelings he couldn't seem to control, he was enraged that he had to have feelings, let alone some pathetic ones concerning the muggleborn bestfriend of Harry Potter!

He turned around, and directed all his anger and pent up frustrations at the wall that had been behind him by punching it hard with his fist, growling in process. He ignored the pain on his knuckles cut open by the action, and, upon gaining some of his self control back, angrily darted out of the rather secluded corner toward a direction completely different than that of Hermione or Blaise.

* * *

Several feet from the corner, Crystabelle hid herself back behind a shadowy alcove.

Gee, Draco had it bad. _Real_ bad.

Crystabelle had thought her brother was only slightly infatuated with the Head Girl. But, look at how jealous he became just by looking at the brief, rather friendly encounter between Hermione and Blaise. It looked to be _more_ than just some small infatuation. Her brother obviously had a _big_, _bad_ crush on Hermione!

She also noticed that Blaise obviously fancied the Head Girl too. Look at that silly dreamy smile on his face; never had she thought she would see that kind of expression on the face of her brother's bestfriend, who had seemed to be too quiet and emotionless she had once questioned his humanity. Apparently, however, Blaise was not that deprived of emotions.

Oh, yes, Crystabelle had noticed all the encounter and how Draco had been spying from behind the corner. Not that she had been spying too, she just happened to be at the right time and at the right place when the incident occurred. She was reading in the alcove when Hermione passed by, and after some musing, thought she could perhaps join her to the library. That was when she saw Blaise walking from behind the far corner straight onto her, sending her books toppled onto the floor. And just when Crystabelle was about to leave her hiding place to offer some help, she saw Draco watching the exchanges between Hermione and Blaise from a corner near her alcove before hiding himself behind said corner just before Blaise turned around and walked toward both siblings' direction, although he was completely unaware of their presence.

She had seen Draco's reddening face, how he clenched his fists and shook in anger before punching the walls. That must hurt, she cringed.

Nevertheless, Crystabelle couldn't help but covering her mouth to suppress amused giggles now that the hilarity of the situation sank in. Merlin, this was real interesting! What a drama! And a romance one, too, at that! She wondered who would win the heart of the fair Gryffindor Princess in the end? Was it Blaise, or Draco? Blaise seemed to have a slightly bigger chance here, what with him and Hermione seemed to be in better term compared with Draco and her. Aww… poor Draco.

She again let out some giggles as she thought it was even of bigger chance that Hermione would pick someone completely different than either of those two. There were Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, and some other boys Crystabelle had seen obviously attracted to her. The two Slytherins had no chance at all! Aww ... poor Slytherin bestfriends, then!

She giggled even louder, her small hand hardly managed to suppressed it until she heard footsteps and became completely silent, not wanting other students to discover her in her favorite alcove. She still, however, could not prevent a very wide smirk from forming on a corner of her mouth.

Now, she wondered how the Head Girl felt about all of these. Whom exactly did her heart belong to? Who was the boy that would be a real source of her brother's jealousy?

Crystabelle decided; it was her new mission to find the answers for these interesting questions.

Upon hearing the footsteps no longer, she left the confinement of her alcove and headed straight toward the library.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi...! Here's Chapter VII. What do you think? Thanks agains for reading, reviewing and all, especially for CheshireCat23 and NessaWayMalfoy who don't seem to get tired of reviewing. Still looking forward to your comments, guys, and of others of course. Happy reading! :D**

* * *

CHAPTER VII

"Hermione! You can't be serious! You don't just say you can't go to Hogsmeade this weekend so you can study more for NEWTs. Everyone needs refreshing, you know, and you've studied more than anyone here so you definitely need too!" Ron whined. Indeed he sounded very much like whining, although was always upset when she pointed that out.

"Well, can't be in _that_ bad need for refreshing, can it? I mean, it was like not more than two months ago we had a summer break," Hermione replied, her eyes never left the page of the book she was reading, although she had read the same paragraph over and over now that her two bestfriends were paying her a visit to the library and refused to go until she agreed on their demand.

To be honest, she was rather irritated with those two's interrupting of her solitary moment, especially because it was aimed at dragging her to the village. Not that she did not want to go, it indeed sounded quite refreshing. She just hated the feeling to be a fifth wheel now that her boys each had a girlfriend as a date -Harry had Ginny and Ron had Lavender- while she had no one to go to as a pair with.

"Yes, Hermione. We always went to Hogsmeade together. Well, excepting at those first few times when I was not allowed to go," now it was Harry speaking. "But, anyway after that we always went together. And this is our final year. You can't possibly let go of this last chance for us to visit Hogsmeade together for … for books! It was always all the three of us, Hermione. Why couldn't this time? You can read the books any other times."

Harry made a good point there, one she could not argue (although it would be no longer just the three of them; it would be five and she would be the fifth! But, she couldn't possibly mention it, could she?). Besides, she couldn't help but feeling touched with her boys' efforts and attention although, as mentioned earlier, each had his own girlfriend now. They could easily leave her alone for their dates, but they obviously did not. She wanted to appreciate that, appreciate their friendship, which she cherished. So, after inhaling some breath, she reluctantly answered,

"Okay … I'll go."

"Now that's our Hermione!" Harry said, and he and Ron beamed before crushing her between them.

They then told her about the arrangement, what time they would meet and all, which she nodded to and smiled at, although inside she still dreaded it.

Her boys then each gave her a quick peck on the cheek, and bid her farewell before they headed to the Quidditch pitch to practice Quidditch. They actually already had their Quidditch uniforms on.

Hermione sighed and dropped her head on the table as they disappeared from her sight.

Now, what was she gonna do? She _really_ didn't like the feeling of being a fifth wheel. Maybe she could feign an illness when the day came? Just a light one, perhaps like headache or stomachache, so they wouldn't be too worried over her but still let her stay in the castle. Or maybe she could just avoid them all day and pretend later on that she completely forgot about their appointment. Geez, how pathetic could she be? And how could she do such thing as tricking her bestfriends just because she didn't like being a fifth wheel?

Hermione was so busy with her dreadful thoughts she did not realize someone was standing across the table until he drew the chair on the opposite side and greeted her.

"Hello, Hermione," Ernie MacMillan smiled rather sheepishly at her.

"Hey, Ernie," she returned the smile, and waiting for the Head Boy to continue, which appeared to be quite some time as he suddenly looked too nervous and fidgety to talk.

"What is it?" she was getting impatient.

Her impatient tone snapped the Hufflepuff out of his nervousness and made him curse himself inwardly for being nervous and all. 'Come on, Ernie… Ask her, ask her. Now, or never!' he said inwardly before bracing himself to do just as he had been planning.

"Hermione, wouldyougotoHogsmeadewithme?" he said it very quickly Hermione couldn't catch his words.

"Pardon?"

He inhaled deeply and said, after slowly releasing his breath,

"I just thought, ugh… because as Heads the teachers would surely want us to look after the students on Hogsmeade trip this weekend, I wonder if … if perhaps we should just … come together?"

_Is he asking me out as in a date?_ Hermione thought. _But, why is he using the Heads __excuse then? It's kind of making things blur._

"It's okay if you already have a date. I'm just asking, who knows …"

Hermione thought quickly. She could actually make use of this situation for her own benefit. By saying yes she would not exactly get Ernie the wrong idea that she agreed that they go together as a pair, what with him also not exactly making it sound like it was a date, and she would also be saved from being a fifth wheel! This was perfect. Hermione beamed.

"Why, Ernie, I think that'll be great! But, I have promised Harry and Ron that I would go with them, maybe you can just join us. What do you think?"

He looked crestfallen, but quickly gathered himself and thought although this was not exactly going as he had expected, it was still better than nothing at all. So, he smiled (still rather sheepishly) and said,

"That's okay, I suppose. So, uhm… we'll meet before going with the carriage?"

"Yes …" and Hermione informed him about the appointment time and all.

The Hufflepuff beamed as he left the table where the Head Girl was still sitting.

He cursed himself for using the wrong words to ask her, resulting in her misunderstanding of his original intention and they ended up would only go together as Heads, not as dates. But, this was at least a step forward, he told himself. Who knew perhaps he could make it seem like a real date and try to win her heart slowly but surely starting from this … 'Heads date'.

* * *

Crystabelle watched amazed as she saw the clumsy Head Boy left the table where the Head Girl was still sitting at with wide grin on his face.

She had heard part of the conversation between the two Heads, and so she knew they had agreed to go to Hogsmeade together. _So this is the person who is a real threat for Draco? _she thought, and somehow found the idea to be … rather disappointing.

The Head Boy and the Head Girl? That was too lame, she thought. No drama at all. Besides, the Hufflepuff just seemed too clumsy and Hermione deserved someone better, someone with better self-assurance. Crystabelle did not know where exactly the idea came from, but thought it seemed most reasonable. Hermione was intelligent and confident and all, so she deserved someone who was her equal, not a clumsy, shy Hufflepuff eventhough he might be the Head Boy.

Crystabelle went straight to the elder Gryffindor and questioned her on the issue; forgot that the latter might then find out of her eavesdropping.

"Hermione! You're going out with Ernie MacMillan?" Her eyes wide, her expression amazed, that Hermione thought only about how cute and funny it was seeing the little girl's concern of her love life (or lack thereof).

To be honest, the muggleborn witch had grown to be quite, if not very, fond of the youngest Malfoy. Not only that she didn't act like a Malfoy at all, she also appeared to be evidently smart, awfully curious, carefree and seemed to be completely innocent. Hermione liked the way the blonde wasn't being prejudiced at all, despite her being raised as a Malfoy, and how she acted like she had no care in the world, although it was obvious many of her first-year peers were still rather apprehensive at her, and thus why only a few regarded her friendly, as far as Hermione had observed. She also liked the way Crystabelle seemed to be very fond of her as well, and couldn't help but wondering what if her brother and parents knew about that. But, then again, the little blonde didn't seem to care at all about what her family might think of her or what she did.

Hermione laughed at the younger girl's blatant curiosity, but decided to give her the true answer,

"I _am_ going out with Ernie, but, really, only going out as in the two Heads have to look out for the students together in this weekend's Hogsmeade trip. Not as you seem to think."

"Oh, but then why does he seem so happy? And why you must go together anyway? What if each of you have a date? Do you still have to go together and abandon your dates?"

Crystabelle's eyes never left Hermione's as she showered her with those questions, and even with her hands busy drawing the chair Ernie had just sat on before she sat there herself, eagerly waiting for Hermione's answers.

Still amused by the younger girl's too eager gestures, Hermione forgot to feel upset her reading in the library had just actually been interrupted for the third time. Instead, she amusedly replied,

"Well, I don't know what he's being happy about. You should probably ask him about that. And, no, we're not obliged to go together, if that's what you ask. But, it happens that the two of us don't have a date, so why not just go together to simplify matters and smoothen our Heads duty?" she shrugged.

"Why don't you have a date then? I'm sure boys are lining to go with you."

Hermione couldn't help but laughing again at the blatant inquiry before replying,

"So, you think so? Boys are lining to be my date?"

"It's _so_ obvious, Hermione!"

"Well, it could be that I have a boyfriend outside this school and I want to be faithful to him…"

"You mean you have a muggle boyfriend or something?" Crystabelle's eyes widened.

"Why not? That could be the case, although that so-called boyfriend of mine could also be a wizard who was homeschooled or going to a different wizarding school, or he probably already graduated from said school and is now working somewhere."

"Hermione…! Which one is the truth?" Crystabelle now whined in desperation, which made Hermione laugh again.

"Well, if you're so curious, I'll let you know, but this is just between you and me, okay?" the brunnete lowered her tone here to a half whisper, which made the blonde nod eagerly, excited about an interesting secret the Head Girl might share exclusively with her! (It _had _to be exclusive. The schoolwould have known Hermione already had a boyfriend if she hadn't kept it a secret!)

So Crystabelle drew her chair even closer to the table, her upper body leaning toward the Head Girl.

"The truth is … I am now perfectly single but unavailable."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Crystabelle narrowed her eyes, feeling disappointed as she sank back on her chair. The glint of excitement in her eyes slowly disappeared.

"Crystabelle, NEWTs is coming. I'm too busy to be involved in a relationship and all. I don't want that sort of stuff to disrupt my study. Besides, it's not like I'm being interested in anyone."

"You're not? At all?"

Hermione shook her head.

"Of so many boys at school, you're not fancying anyone?"

She again shook her head.

"Are you … err … into girls or something?"

She laughed, and again shook her head, "No. No…!"

"Well, then … why aren't you interested in anyone? Please don't hide it from me, Hermione. I won't ask you who he is, I swear! I just can't believe you being fancied by many boys and all, but no one interests you the slightest. Poor boys them all!"

Hermione laughed again here. "And why a little girl like you is being very curious of my love life? Don't you have better things to do? Why the sudden interest?"

"Oh, well, err.. just inspired by the conversation between you and the Head Boy."

"Were you eavesdropping or something?" Hermione asked with mock resentment.

"No, of course not, Hermione! I was going to come to you to ask you about this book, but then I saw you and the Head Boy, and I couldn't possibly interrupt you both, could I? It could be a very important Heads' business. So I waited just behind that bookshelf," Crystabelle replied sheepishly.

"Okay, okay, I trust you … So what were you going to ask me about?" Hermione decided even if the little girl had eavesdropped, there was really nothing to worry about with that anyway. Nevertheless, it was best to really change the topic of their conversation because it had gone too personal and made her feel uncomfortable.

Lucky for Crystabelle she indeed had that talked-about sharpness, so she easily made up inquiry about said book, and that seemed to be quite a success since the Head Girl did not seem suspicious at all.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER VIII

Crystabelle had not decided yet on what she was going to do with all information regarding romantic affairs surrounding the Head Girl she had successfully gathered. She knew now her brother, Blaise, the Head Boy and some other seventh-year boys and the younger ones had feelings for Hermione, ranging from some mere minor crush to heavy infatuation. She also knew Harry Potter and Ron Weasley did not like the muggleborn witch that way at all, and neither did she like either of them as more than a friend or a brother.

With Harry Potter and Ron Weasley off from the list and the Head Girl fancied no one (unless she wasn't being honest with her that day), it looked like Hermione's adorers shared equally poor chance of winning over her heart. But, seeing that Ernie MacMillan as the Head Boy had more excuses to make moves toward her, this could mean a slightly bigger chance for him.

Crystabelle had also obtained quite precious information regarding the type of boys Hermione liked. This one was a pure luck, all right (well, hadn't she been quite lucky these days to be able to easily gather those precious information?); she accidentaly heard conversation between Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley in the Gryffindors' common room that happened to touch the topic. She was reading a book in a secluded corner when the two came and talked on the couch, and they weren't aware of her presence even until the conversation finished (thank her Slyterinish stealthiness for that!).

"Really, Harry, I don't like making Hermione feel like a fifth wheel. Why do you and Ron have to suggest double dates anyway and include her at that? Not that I don't want her to be included. Oh, but you know what I mean! Really, I don't mind if it's just you, Ron and her as in the previous years. You can then separate in the middle and meet me at the Three Broomstick after that or something," Ginny said.

"Yeah, well, I didn't really think about it that way. You're right. But, we can't possibly cancel it now, you know Ron and Lavender … "

Ginny sighed. "Oh, it'll be so much easier if only Hermione has a boyfriend. We can make it triple dates then."

_So they don't know Hermione has agreed to go with Ernie then_, Crystabelle thought, before listening carefully again.

"Yeah, but you know Hermione. She doesn't want her preparations for NEWT to be bothered by relationship or something like that."

"Not only that, actually."

"What do you mean?" Harry fixed his glasses.

"Actually, Hermione fancied elder guys, and none of them is around now that you guys are in seventh year."

Harry made a face. "What do you mean elder guys? If you mean like our aging professors, that's just sick! AWWW! You hurt me, Ginny!"

Apparently Ginny just smacked him on the head.

"Didn't I just say _NONE_ of them around now? Hermione liking aging professors.. that was _twisted_ and _gross_, Harry! Eww… How could such thought even cross your mind about your _bestfriend_, of all people?"

Harry smiled guiltily.

"What I mean is guys a few years older than her, maybe about Victor Krum's age."

"She never told me."

"Why would she? Things like this are only spoken of during girls' talks," Ginny smiled smugly. "Anyway, the point is, Hermione once told me it seemed like she was more into guys a few years older than her because they seemed to be more mature, but of course not those as mature as her dad or around that age. With her being in seventh year now, of course she can't find such guys, unless you put Fred and George into account, but even so she only met them last summer, which was quite a brief meeting too at that."

"Yeah … not to mention they're barely an epitome of more mature guys despite being a few years older, are they?"

"Yeah, I know …"

"So why didn't she date anyone while she was in lower years then?"

"She hadn't realized about it back then."

"Okay …"

That was more or less the conversation Crystabelle heard, before it was ended with a snogging session which made her nauseated and flee the room at once; did not care about being caught. It's not like they were aware of anything happening around them when being so … focused like that. Eww…

Anyway, Crystabelle didn't want to remember the eww-ing scene, so immediately resumed her brainstorming regarding her favorite Head Girl.

So, Hermione liked more mature guys. Who, then, of her adorers, could have slightly bigger chance to win her heart in this regard?

She didn't really know Ernie, but seeing how Hermione often engaged in Heads' businesses with him and all and yet didn't seem to have developed any feelings for the Head Boy, looked like he was not among the 'more mature' type.

Neville Longbottom … forget that.

Blaise, well … He was quiet. But, that was it. Seeing Blaise she knew exactly being quiet was not the same with being mature.

Draco … well … she wasn't against her brother or anything. But, when it came to this being mature stuff, Draco evidently had no chance at all!

Oh, well, since there would be likely no progress regarding this issue yet, and since she also had yet to decide what she actually wanted to do about the issue anyway, Crystabelle decided to give it a rest it for some time and focus on her more timely mission: making her escapade to Hogsmeade!

Oh, really, it was at times like this she hated rules (not that she ever really liked them). Why should anyone be allowed to visit the village only after they were at third year? The third years were only a year and two older than the second and first. What's so different with that age disparity?

Anyway, since she was nowhere near around being someone who could change the ridiculuous rule, she decided to direct her energy for a move which would guarantee a direct result: breaking the rule and visiting Hogsmeade secretly!

Oh yes, she already had a very well-thought-of plan for that. She knew she could get to Hogsmeade through the Shrieking Shack. And she knew, all right, that the shack was not haunted at all! If anything, she lived in a manor house whose dungeons dubbed one of the most haunted places in England! And she had conquered those dungeons. She had seen the ghosts, who did not scare her because most appeared to be her ancestral ghosts, who were quite fond of her and very annoyingly protective of her either. So, she had no reason at all to be afraid of making a stopover inside the unhaunted shack.

And she was, if anything, quite resourceful. She had found out just a few days after arriving at Hogwarts that the Shrieking Shack could be reached from the castle through the Whomping Willow. Getting precious information like that was one of the benefits of wandering around the halls and secret passages of Hogwarts at night and eavesdropping the resident ghosts' conversations. And she had read from books how to immobile the Willow, which seemed to be pretty easy.

The only remaining problem had been how to explore Hogsmeade without anyone knowing it was her. But, she had recently found a solution for that. She had secured a polyjuice potion and ordered one of her house elves (through secret correspondences, of course) to steal hair of a teenage muggle girl, thus there would be no problem that the person she was impersonating suddenly appearing around her in the wizarding village, which could be quite disastrous! That was unless she could quickly cast the _Imperius_ curse and tell the person to tell people she was her twin. But, that was an Unforgivable and she never liked black magic. Not that she could cast it either.

Anyway, she thought she had made a perfect plan, which would guarantee a 100 percent success. Now, the only thing she had to do was executing it.

"Hey, Godric! Have the third years and up departed to Hogsmeade yet?" Crystabelle stopped her Gryffindor classmate, whom she knew was just returning from the Entrance Hall.

The red-headed boy (not a Weasley, thank Merlin!) gasped in surprise as the blonde seemed to come out of nowhere at the long, empty corridor heading to the Gryffindors' common room.

"Yes, uh … I mean, No! No, they haven't departed yet. They're … uh… lining for the carriages," he replied anxiously, couldn't help but still feeling apprehensive when being around the infamous Malfoy, not to mention they were alone in the empty, seemingly endless corridor! He started to turn his head right and left, hoping to see a way escape and wondering where his friends were at critical times like this!

Crystabelle narrowed her eyes at the fidgety boy, and wondered how he had been sorted into Gryffindor with such timidity (the same question emerging whenever she thought of Neville Longbottom). They had been classmates for more than two months, for Merlin's sake! It's not like she ever bit him or something.

She rolled her eyes, and decided to pay no heed to the clumsy boy, leaving after glaring daggers at him, which made the boy shrink even more and his stare glued to the floor.

Only after he thought she was in safe distance that he dared to move and in a speed of light fled toward the safety of his dormitory. Thank Merlin they separated the boys' and girls' dormitories! Phew … He wiped non-existent sweat from his forehead.

Back to Crystabelle, she decided to check the situation herself. Besides, her trip to the Whomping Willow would be shorter from the castle's yard than from the inside once she could confirm that the coast was clear.

She pushed open the double oaken doors of the Entrance Hall that led outside, and saw students lining before a shorter line of carriages drawn by the invisible Thestrals.

She saw Luna Lovegood, separated from the rest, touching dreamily the supposed head of one of the invisible creatures, and wished briefly she could join her (she didn't care if Draco would then say she reminded him even more of 'Looney' Lovegood. He once told her so, citing her lone wandering around the castle and similar blond hair - as if he hadn't been blond himself!). Unfortunately Crystabelle couldn't see the creatures, and wasn't actually sure if she wanted to go through the process which would enable her to do so. So she skipped off the wishful thought, and again fixed her stare at the line.

She saw none of the Golden Trio nor other members of the 'triple dates', so it looked like they had gone. She also didn't see Draco and his cronies, surely they had 'made their way' to the front of the line and were probably already wandering about the village before she even arrived here.

Crystabelle decided to sit down on a rock emerging out of the grass-covered ground a few yards from the entrance doors, watching the line growing shorter.

* * *

Saying that Draco was having a terrible mood was an understatement. He was having an _extremely, tremendously, awfully_ terrible mood that his friends, excepting Crabbe and Goyle (who didn't seem to know what to do without their leader during the weekend trip), decided to stay away from him.

"What's wrong with him?" Pansy whispered as she and Blaise watched Draco push harshly a third year Ravenclaw boy to the side of the street as he made his way further down Hogsmeade, tailed by his two cronies, who occassionally helped him get rid of other students from the street.

"Get out of my way!" he was now heard barking at some sixth year Hufflepuffs, who obediently parted to give him a way.

"I don't know, he wasn't like this when we had our breakfast," Blaise replied. It was true, Draco had only seemed rather moody during breakfast (as he had been since the new school year had started), but had become rather violent since they took the carriage to get to the village.

"Looks like he was being mad about something," Blaise offered.

"What else is he being mad about? He seems to be _always_ mad about anything. What makes the difference now?"

Blaise shrugged. "Perhaps it's just the time of the month. Ouch! Pansy, you don't need to punch me like that!" Blaise brushed his arm as Pansy put her fist back in her jacket's pocket.

"That's not funny! Your friend is obviously very angry right now. If he heard you speak like that … well, you know what could happen! And I've had enough with his rants!"

"All right!" Blaise decided to end the conversation. Who cares about Draco being mad or not anyway? He already seemed to be rather angry with him in the past few days, treating him coldly if not harshly without Blaise having any idea why. And it's not like Blaise didn't have a problem of his own. He just saw Hermione, the girl he had a crush on for quite some time, going out with Ernie MacMillan, of all people! Since when had they started dating? Last time he checked she was still single. Blaise was being burned with jealousy. He wanted to just leave Hogsmeade and return to the Castle as soon as he had seen the couple getting off the carriage, didn't want to see them being lovey-dovey and all, but that would look too suspicious. He decided to continue his weekend trip but to stay clear off the couple so that they wouldn't ruin his supposed-to-be-fun day.

Little did he know it was the same sight that had turned the mood of his blond bestfriend from bad to _awfully_ bad.

Yes, Draco had seen the stupid, clumsy Hufflepuff put his hand on Hermione's back as if she was his! And he had seen the lovey dovey look in the Head Boy's eyes as he stared at her, which was almost all the times! And Draco had seen her laugh at his jokes, and accept his hand while she was getting off the carriage, and let _that_ dirty hand linger on her waist and then now her back. And he had heard those girls gossiping that the Head Girl and the Head Boy were now a couple!

Who does she think she is? She shouldn't let anyone claim her or touch her like that! She is _his_, and his alone (it's not important she wasn't aware of the fact _yet_). And the poor, disgusting MacMillan boy, how dare he touched what was a Malfoy's! Draco couldn't let this continue. He _got_ to do something, and decided it was the time now as he saw the Heads couple parted from their group and headed to the bookshop on the left.

"But, Draco, I thought we were going to the Three Broomstick?"

"Shut up, Goyle! I need to find a book. Unlike you two, I _read_!"

His two cronies decided to keep their mouth shut, didn't want to trigger further their leader's already awful mood, and reluctantly followed him to Tomes and Scrolls.

"Now what is he doing, going to the bookshop?" Pansy again whispered, which made Blaise roll his eyes as they were evidently in a safe distance, a hundred yards or so, from the blond.

"He reads, Pansy, I see nothing extraordinary about him wanting to buy something to read," Blaise answered irritatedly as he really wanted to stay as away as possible from the Head Girl and her new beau, whom he had seen entering the bookshop too.

"But, it's really not like him going to a bookshop when being in that mood!" now it was Pansy who was being irritated with her friend's ignorance.

"Will you just quit it? Let Draco do as he wants; it's better than he barks at us all the times. Let's just go quickly to the Three Broomstick, have some drink, and go back to the castle immediately."

Pansy stared at the boy suspiciously. "I tell you what. You too don't so much sound like yourself, Blaise. Since when have you favored a short Hogsmeade trip? Something's troubling you, isn't it?"

"No." He decided to just end the conversation and quicken up his steps toward the Three Broomstick.

"What's wrong with you two?" Pansy cried frustratedly before deciding to sprint to catch up with the long strides of her tall Italian friend.

* * *

Hermione was downright irritated with the Head Boy. She thought they had made it clear it wasn't a date, but Ernie _kept_ treating her like it was a date! First, he wouldn't let go off her hand after he helped her get off the carriage. Then, after she had somehow managed to remove said hand off his without making him feel too dejected (she still didn't want to seem or sound rude), he daringly put his hand on her waist! Unfortunately Harry and Ron were too occupied with their girlfriends, and vice versa, that they didn't notice what he did, although she had tried numerous times to draw their attention to her. If they did, surely they would have done something to him, and he wouldn't have dared acting as if she were his girlfriend!

She then again managed to slither away from his hand, but just when she was relishing her success, he put _that_ same hand on her back and somehow succeeded in keeping it there despite her efforts to avoid it all the times, such as by leaving the main road to reprimand three fifth-year Slytherins seemingly scheming on something -although she actually didn't care what they did, and intentionally dropping her scarf and telling him to go ahead while she took the scarf, only to find him stay glued at her side in every attempt.

He also seemed to intentionally let people think they were a couple! She heard some students whisper, 'Hey, the two Heads are going out?' 'Aww… what a sweet couple..' 'See? It's true when they say Head Girl and Head Boy always end up together.' But, while she always tried to distance from him when they were in front of those gossipers to avoid misunderstanding, he always tried to keep her as close, such as by suddenly putting his arm over her shoulder, or even put her loose hair back behind her ear, while a very smug smile was plastered on his face. Ugh…!

And now, as she was seeking a refuge in the bookstore, he insisted on following her! She had told him she might spend hours in and so he could just leave her be and enjoy the rest of his weekend trip, but he just shrugged and said,

"I like reading as much as you, Hermione. I could spend hours there as well, and even days," and put his arm back over her shoulder.

And when she suggested that they better part their way so as to ensure all students were supervised, he replied simply,

"Some perfects are on duty, too, Hermione. And I've told them to spread."

Arrrghhh…!

Now they were in the aisle where romance novels and beauty magazines were displayed. She intentionally picked it in a hope he would scan for books in other parts of the shop and so perhaps give her a chance to escape (probably straight back to the Castle, anywhere is better as long as he's not around!). But, he kept doting on her unabashedly, and kept his arm over her shoulder although she kept shrugging it in obvious discomfort.

"I don't know you read theses kind of magazines, Hermione. Never saw you read ones, unlike those girls."

"Yeah, well, I'm a girl, too," she replied irkedly.

"Ah, but you're different. You don't need to read these, you're very beautiful already," he smiled at her too sickeningly sweetly, which made Hermione just couldn't stand it anymore! Where had he lost his shyness anyway? She was just about to turn around and lash out at him when a rather familiar voice drawled behind them.

"Well, well, well, look who's here? If it isn't the Mudblood and her … " the Slytherin Prince looked at Ernie up and down with disgusted face before adding venomously, "… new _lapdog_. Why? Can't keep your two old lapdogs, Granger? So you need to find a new one? You certainly have a very poor taste. You should use the chance to find a better lackey instead of … a _very poorly-bred_ one." He emphasized the last part with even more repulsed tone.

Hermione wanted to jump at him right there and then. Malfoy couldn't come at more proper time! He was her savior, for Ernie finally let go off her now as he clenched his fists and yelled,

"How_ dare_ you talk that way about the two Heads, _Malfoy_! 50 points from Slytherin!"

Draco saw the strangely relieved look on the Head Girl's eyes, but was too annoyed and angered with the Hufflepuff he didn't give it much thought and was responding hotly to him instead.

"And how_ dare_ you speak to me, your superior, with that tone! Who do you think you are, you lowly, clumsy, weakling, good-for-nothing Hufflepuff!" he said in menacing tone as he stepped closer, intimidatingly, toward the Head Boy, who shrank in fear of the infamous Slytherin Prince but was too proud (despite his Hufflepuffness) to let it shown, for he was the Head Boy nevertheless.

"Malfoy… you go away or I'll take 100 points from you!"

"Ernie, I don't think that's necessary. Let's just go and leave these idiots. It's not worth it," Hermione cut off. She honestly really wished she could just flee, this was her chance. But, being the Head Girl, she couldn't possibly let a fight happen right in front of her and do nothing about that, could she? She was a responsible person after all.

Draco didn't even notice her defending of his House points. He was too burned with jealousy that all he saw was her defending her pathetic excuse of a boyfriend! So he left the Head Boy and unexpectedly, and very fast too at that, moved straight toward the Head Girl and pushed her harshly on the arms, pinning her against the bookshelf behind her and trapping her with his arms and body.

"Hey!" the Head Boy protested, but was soon stopped from doing anything by Crabbe and Goyle, who had been behind Draco all along.

"Malfoy… Move!" Hermione gritted her teeth, glaring up at the towering blonde, who was invading her personal space and somewhat hurting her arms for God's sake! She forgot at once her previous gratitude to him.

But, Draco barely heard her words. He was relishing the feeling of her this close to him, the feeling of her delicate arms -although covered by layers of clothing- in his hands, relishing her nice and pleasant smell, and wanted to get even closer that he was now instinctively closing the room left between their bodies, which of course instantly triggered alarm on Hermione.

She gathered her power and then pushed him as hard as she could, which made Draco stumble and release her because he had been too in a daze and had been thus unprepared for the sudden attack.

"Don't. Move!" the Head Girl was now pointing her wand straight up at his nose.

"You old _scumbag_! Don't you dare ever doing such thing again! If you think you can intimidate me by doing … doing that, well guess what you're wrong. And aren't you afraid of my _mudblood_ germs anyway?"

Her words made Draco suddenly panic his feelings for her could be somehow exposed, thus he abruptly, and thoughtlessly, replied,

"As if I want to touch you! You dirt, lower than the ground I step my feet on. But, thanks for reminding me of the germs anyway, _Mudblood_. That was very nice of you. You know … sometimes even superior people like me can act recklessly; _forget_ that I shouldn't be anywhere near a lowly, disgusting _Mudblood_," he closed the sentence with a sneer, and made gestures as if he tried to clean dirt off his robes.

Then he saw flash of hurt in her eyes, and immediately regretted his words. He didn't really mean it; only said so in a hope his real feelings wouldn't be discovered.

But, she was definitely good in hiding hers, because in the next second she looked as strong as a lioness could be, dropping her wand hand as she said coldly,

"50 points from Slytherin, for insulting the Head Girl. That makes it 100 from Slytherin today." She threw a hateful glance toward him before, with her chin raised, leaving the scene, tailed by the Head Boy.

Draco stood unmoved. He was beating himself mentally. Now he had just officially crushed any prospects of him winning her over. Stupidly, he just realized he didn't care what people would say about him being with the Muggleborn, after he lost all the chance now, after she flashed him that so full-of-hatred look, which she had never bestowed to him before, even with those insults he had used to throw at her in the past.

"Draco," Crabbe, or maybe Goyle (he honestly didn't care) poked him on the shoulder.

"Are you all right, Draco?" he poked him again.

"Go. Away," Draco said coldly, before turning around and raised his wand.

"Expelliarmus!" he shouted, sending Goyle toppled on the floor several yards from where he had stood before turning around again, leaving his two shocked friends alone.

* * *

**Hello, everyone! Sorry for the three-week stall. As usual, I was busy with job and all. Hope the quite long chapter can offset the delay :). Once again thx for reading, reviewing and all. Especially for MasterArbor , thx for reviewing every chapter, that's so nice of you, really appreciate that! :D**

**And thanks to DIANA-FANofHOTNESS4ever (whose calling me 'mean' has served as sort of a 'wake-up call'), katie4dragons,  
CheshireCat23 , NessaWayMalfoy, kleipoppetje, and all others ...**

**Looking forward to your reviews again, otherwise I would think this story isn't worth reading and feel that there's no use updating it (do I sound like sulking? sorry ... but I _do _need your reviews!).**

**Btw, I've published another story called "Turn Back Time". It's rather gloomy, but I mean it to be happy ending. Hope you have time to check it out and tell me what do you think. **

**For fanfiction readers living in Japan, I express my deepest condolence for the recent tsunami attack and the ongoing nuke crisis. Hope you can go through them all well. My prayer goes for you..**

**Another btw, English is not my first language, so I'm sorry for any grammar and vocabulary mistakes/peculiarities. Please bear with me. Because to be honest, I'm completely in dark over Beta reader stuff and all.**

**Have a nice weekend! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER IX

Hermione was fumed. How _dare_ the albino_ ferret_ addressed her with such derogatory words! It was not just about his use of 'mudblood'. To be honest, she was already very used to that word she didn't care anymore. But, the way he said it, as if he was really disgusted by her, that … well, that unexpectedly hurt!

She thought he had gone over that. And she thought he had made somewhat a truce with the whole Gryffindor house, including her, since his sister joined Gryffindors. It had seemed so until just today. Or was it because he had seen how she wouldn't do anything to his sister, even with him belittling and being cruel to her, that he was back to his usual self before her? He must have felt very itchy do just that long ago and decided to do so immediately soon as he had seen it would be okay. Well, she still wouldn't stoop that low into trying to get him back through his sister, especially because Hermione had genuinely grown fond of the younger Gryffindor. But, if he could treat her like rubbish, so could she. Just you wait, _ferret_! She resolved.

"Hermione! Where are you going? Wait, wait for me…!" Ernie struggled to get through the bunch of students separating him and the Head Girl as she walked very quickly, almost sprinting, toward the edge of the village.

"Hermione!" he was finally able to catch her arm, and forced her to stop.

"Let go off me, Ernie!" she turned around and huffed, pulling her arm, but the Head Boy wouldn't budge.

"No, I won't! Where are you going?"

"I'm going back to the castle, all right! I've had enough for today. You enjoy the rest of the trip yourself!"

"But, Hermione, you can't just leave because of Malfoy!"

"Who says I can't? And who says it's _only_ because of him? Now will you just let go off me?" Hermione pulled her hand harshly and, after succeeding, really ran away this time.

Before the Head Boy managed to run after her, however, he was knocked out hard that he fell with his butt on the ground.

"Ouch! What the…"

"Sorry… I was … running after my puppy and didn't see you," a coffee brown-haired girl, about 12 or 13, stood in front of him, explaining sheepishly.

Before Ernie had a chance to say anything, however, she fled and ran quickly down the village. He stared at her back, and didn't feel like having seen her before. He shrugged, decided it looked like she was not a Hogwarts student.

He then remembered he was trying to catch up with Hermione, and immediately turned around, and saw the Head Girl nowhere.

He cried frustratedly before deciding to go back down the village. A big glass of butterbeer could hopefully enhance his mood, which had been _all_ _right_ before the Slytherin_ ass_ ruined his lovely day with the girl of his dreams!

Crystabelle giggled as she returned to normal pace, drawing the attention of Hogwarts students sputtering around nearby. They stopped to look at her strangely.

She turned around, facing a window display of a dress robe shop to avoid their stares, as she didn't feel like stopping her giggle. That was funny! The look on the Head Boy's face as she knocked him down by running straight onto him. Serve him right; forcing the Head Girl to stay like that, when all Crystabelle could see on Hermione's face was how miserable she was and how she looked like she could go insane if she had to stay any longer around the dimwitted Head Boy. He was apparently very insensitive! Or maybe his skull was too thick even Hermione couldn't get through it to make him understand he wasn't wanted. Geez, even she could see from afar how the Head Girl looked very irked by him.

Crystabelle also relished her successful disguise. So far no one recognized her as she walked around with this mask body of a muggle. She stared at her reflection on the window glass, fixing a stray strand of coffee brown hair on her forehead and checking her now light green eyes more thoroughly. She grinned; thinking she looked quite okay. It would have been better if she could have kept her own face. Although some say it was rather pointy, she liked it no matter what. But, what was the point of keeping her face when what she needed was a good disguise to be able to wander around the wizarding village freely?

Anyway, back to the dark brown hair, she had purposefully ordered her house elf, Dimmy, to pick a strand of hair of a brunnette for the Polyjuice Potion. She enjoyed charming her hair to change into different colors, liking how they made her look like different persons each time. But she liked best when it was dark brown, she thought somehow it suited her and made her look a little more ... sophisticated. But, well, her mother always reprimanded her when she found her changing her hair color, saying she should be proud of herself, that she was already very pretty with her platinum blond hair, and that many even envied the Malfoys' trademark color. So, she did it less often, and only when she was alone in her room.

Deciding to continue her wandering about Hogsmeade, Crystabelle grinned one last time at her reflection before turning around to join the hustle and bustle of chattering students.

* * *

"Now WHAT, Draco? Just a moment ago you barked here and there like a_ mad_ dog. And now you look as miserable as a silly girl just being dumped by her pathetic excuse of a boyfriend. What's wrong with you?" Pansy scolded him from her chair diagonally across from the blond, who put his chin on the top of his folded arms resting on the table, staring emptily at the half-empty big glass of butterbeer he was rubbing absentmindedly against the wooden table. The other occupants of the table, Blaise and Crabbe and Goyle, said nothing, but similarly watched the odd behavior of the Slytherin Prince.

"Shut up, Pansy. Go bothering someone else," He said flatly before having another gulp of his butterbeer, sighing, and then going desolate again.

"Arrghh…! I give up on you lot!" she cried, before standing up and marching out of the table. This not-so-often Hogsmeade trip shouldn't be ruined by the boys, who were somehow rather moody today (well, one was _rather_ and another was being _extremely_ moody). She decided to enjoy the rest of her trip alone. It's not like she couldn't have some fun without them. Perhaps she was even lucky enough to find Daphne Greengrass and her gang, and they could have some fun girls' day. She regretted why she hadn't just decided on that before leaving for the trip, preferring instead to go together with those four idiot boys!

Blaise and Crabbe and Goyle watched her huff and flee the overcrowded Three Broomstick, while Draco remained as desolate as he had been. The situation was rather awkward, no one dared to say anything in fear of prompting the Slytherin Prince's anger. Although him looking forlorn and sighing every now and then was rather disconcerting, that was still better than seeing him barking and lashing out at everyone all the times, especially if they became the victims of those lashing out themselves.

Not long after, though, the peaceful moment was interrupted by the entering Head Boy, who just passed through the front entrance of the pub and now drew to a halt in front of the Slytherins' table.

"Malfoy …" He said menacingly; his eyes glaring dagger at the blond, arms shaking, hands clenched and unclenched. Who wouldn't be mad at the _stupid_ person ruining your hard-gained, much-anticipated date! Although he was only a Hufflepuff, and they were often mocked at as being a bunch of cowards who always opted to stay out of trouble, and personally he also always felt rather intimidated by the Slytherin, he could act out of character, too, occasionally, especially when being put in a situation like the one he had just had!

Ernie wouldn't even consider that perhaps he was also the cause of Hermione's anger and fleeing. All he could think of was that it was _all_ the Slytherin Prince's fault!

Draco tilted his head slightly, and as soon as he saw who it was addressing him, abruptly stood up and met him face-to-face (not really face-to-face, actually; for the blond was a few inches taller than the Head Boy).

"You… good-for-nothing-Hufflepuff!" He was again as enraged as he had been. His pale face reddened, hands were, too, clenched and unclenched, and his body shook in anger.

Blaise watched the interaction between the two boys with amazement, while other occupiers of the pub stopped chatting now and started looking toward the two quarreling boys' direction. Blaise himself felt irked as soon as he saw the sandy-haired Hufflepuff entering (because of the jealousy and all), but he had no idea Draco was also having a problem with the moron; and obviously a more serious one, too, seeing the way the two glaring murderously at each other now, hands ready at wands.

"What's your problem, Malfoy?" Ernie spat. "Next time _go_ find someone _else_ to bully! That's very childish of you; mocking her and making her run away like that!"

"Ahh… so you're mad I just ruined your lovey-dovey date? Let me tell you what, you thick-skulled head! The way I see it, it was already _ruined_ with the mere fact that you're part of it!" He sneered, as severely as a Malfoy could, glancing purposefully at the empty space beside the Head Boy, silently reminding him of the non-presence of his date. Draco actually had no idea what had happened between the Head couple. He only said what came across his mind first and perhaps, because he had wished so, that the date had indeed gone wrong from the beginning, those were the words that ended up coming out of his mouth. Apparently, it struck just the right nerve.

"You…" Ernie didn't even bother to use his wand, and launched himself immediately at the obnoxious blonde, sending them both toppled on the floor. He launched his punches on the Slytherin's face, but could hardly cause any injuries as the blond had been quick to protect his face with his arms. And, just suddenly, Ernie was being put on the opposite position, with Draco on top of him, sending well-targeted punches right at his nose, jaws, neck and chest as the Head Boy had been too surprised to make a good defense of himself. They changed positions, rolling about the floor several times, set to cause as many damages as possible at each other before the gathering crowd finally woke up from their trance and decided to break them apart. Not before the fight left ugly bruises and scars on each of their skins, though.

"YOU SLYTHEIRN BADASS!" Ernie yelled as he was being forcibly dragged to the back of the room.

"YOU DIMWITTED, _DISGUSTING_ HUFFLEPUFF!" Draco yelled back as he harshly tried to release his arms, which were being held back by Blaise and Crabbe.

"LEAVE ME _ALONE_, YOU IDIOTS!" He then barked at his friends, and swept blood from the corner of his mouth as Crabbe, who was cowered by his lash, let him go, making it easier for Draco to pull his other arm out of Blaise's dead grip. Contrary to his friends' fear, that he would hunt down the Head Boy, however, Draco fled the table and storm out of The Three Broomsticks.

Just when he slammed the door of the pub and turned right, however, he was smashed onto a short brunette, who staggered back on her feet and almost fell if he hadn't been quick and caught her arm.

"Merlin, sorry, are you okay?" he helped her stand on her feet. In the absence of his clear mind, Draco often forgot that as the Slytherin Prince he shouldn't have acted too nicely like that.

The short, 12-year-old something girl looked up at him, and immediately looked surprised.

"Draco, there is blood on your lips," she raised her hand very swiftly Draco didn't have a time to react, wiping the blood on his chopped lip, making Draco flinch and instinctively step back.

He narrowed his eyes down at the weird girl, "Who are you?" as he wiped the rest of the blood from his lips.

Crystabelle's eyes widened. She cursed herself inwardly. Stupid! Stupid! How come she forgot that she was supposed to be in disguise and was not supposed to know him!

"Oh, you don't know me. I'm just some passerby," she laughed nervously, while slowly stepping away from her brother.

Draco narrowed his eyes even more. "If I don't know you, how come you know me? And you act like we've known each other very well." He followed the girl slowly, staring at her suspiciously.

"Oh, well … actually I just mistook you as another person. How very silly of me," she again laughed nervously (she couldn't think straight and try to act naturally in a very unplanned situation like this!), and kept stepping back as Draco stubbornly continued to follow her.

"I _clearly_ heard you call me Draco. You obviously thought it was me," his stares were now accusatory.

"Oh, no! You heard it wrongly, really. I said _Marco_, _not_ Draco! Anyway, sorry, you're definitely not him. My brother is a bit taller and his hair is not that blond," she pointed out, more confidently this time.

But, alas, she used just the very wrong words! For "my brother" immediately gave her away. Draco briefly glanced down at her dark grey autumn coat, which instantly made Crystabelle curse herself even _more _loudly inwardly, as she just realized it was a birthday present he had given her just several months ago!

"Crystabelle… What. Have. You. Done? Where. Did. You. Get. The Polyjuice Potion? It's illegal, you stupid brat!"

"No, no. You're wrong. I'm not Cris… not Cris whatever you just called me. You must have mistaken me for another person," she still hopelessly offered, stepping further away back, and started turning her head right and left to see a possible way escape.

"Oh, hey! That's my brother! Marcoooo, it's me!" she pointed out to her left, waving, which made Draco instantly look toward the same direction. Then she quickly, albeit stealthily, raised her wand, sending a jinx to her brother's feet and then ran swiftly toward the opposite direction.

"HEY!" Draco yelled, but was tripped just as he was about to run after her. He cursed, and then shouted as he tried to un-hex his feet, which were apparently tied with an invisible rope.

"CRISSY….! STOP THIS INSTANT! I SAID STOP!" he roared.

Obeying him while he was in that mood would be the stupidest thing to do, so Crystabelle ignored him and kept running away, regretting that it looked like she had to end her joyful Hogsmeade trip right now.

"CRISSYYYY…! _WAIT_ 'TIL I GET YOU!" she heard her brother growling loudly, and very angrily, from afar.

* * *

**Hello, there, everyone... Sorry again for the ... 2 months stall? Well, seeing I'm getting busy with job, side job, and postgraduate study applications and all; I guess I must say now I can't promise you regular updates, thus I will no longer have to say sorry every time I publish the new updates later than my previous plan. _More_ reviews to my stories, however, will _of course _encourage me to update sooner. So, please review :)).**

**MasterArbor, who still generously review every chapter of this story, I again thank you _a bunch_, and, answering to your question, my first language is ... surprise, surprise...! Indonesian (have u ever heard of that?)**

**ReneeAicirtap: thanks, your review is _very_ encouraging. So, what do you think about this chapter?**

**AlphaGamJen: the time setting of this story is Hermione's, Draco's, Harry's and Ron's seventh year, which means Fred and George, having been a few years older, already graduated and I imagine they were working at their joke shop. Hermione only met the twins last summer as she visited The Burrow during the summer holiday. Is that clear for you? Thx 4 reviewing :)**

**TheseFamiliarPages: Yes, I can't stand Ernie too! Anyway, his ignorant and irritating treatment of Hermione during the 'Heads date' is I guess definitely the end of him (unless I change my mind somewhere in next chapters). And, well... yes, this perhaps means it's now time for a real race between Draco and Blaise! :D**

**thfourteenth: Ah, yes, your defining of Crystabelle's personality is about the very same reason why I also like her _a lot_ and make her a main character of this story. **

**Thanks for others: DIANA-FANofHOTNESS4ever, GuurrlyGalxoxo, Bricet, hayden3080, FiOnAFiO, stargirl supernova, icha, redflower ... for the reviews.**

**C'mon, guys! Give me _good _reasons to continue updating by continually REVIEWING and START reviewing for those who haven't. THX! :D **


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER X

Crystabelle kept running through the lines of shops, abruptly shoving people out of her way here and there as her panic state seemingly gave her an extra strength to do that even to people bigger than her. Sometimes she muttered 'sorry', especially to those helplessly losing balance because of her; sometimes she glared, this was when her victims yelled angrily at her. Nevertheless, she kept running, and of course turning her head around every once in a while, checking if her brother was following.

He didn't. For a while. For just when she thought she was safe, she heard him shouting amid the crowd, calling out for her to stop, drawing people's attention to both of them. Crystabelle cursed. Why did he have to draw attention like that? Can't he _just _do it more subtly? Crystabelle managed to roll her eyes even though she was in a run.

Okay. Stay calm. Don't get panic. He won't be able to reach you. You would reach the Shrieking Shack before he sees you heading there. And then you'll arrive at Hogwarts long before he does, and then you'll return to your original body and let him see you -and don't forget to take this damn coat off first!- and you'll pretend that you've been at the castle all along, that you're completely clueless about his encounter with your Polyjuice Potioned version, Crystabelle told herself.

She successfully slipped out of the crowd to a deserted alleyway between two rather deserted shops, which she had found to be a shortcut to the Shrieking Shack. She looked back, seeing no signs of Draco, and then sprinting again toward the shack. She trespassed through the wire fence, and then ran across the yard, though she was careful to duck most of the times.

Again just as she thought she was this close to escaping -she was reaching out to the loose, rusty knob at the front door of the shack, she heard Draco shouting out from distance.

"CRISSY! What in Merlin's name are _YOU_ doing there? Stay _away_ of the shack! It's HAUNTED!"

That warning, and the fact that Draco looked reluctant about coming anywhere near the shack (he was just standing there before the fence, unsure what to do), successfully made Crystabelle roll her eyes again, despite the situation, as she decided to ignore him and quickly opened the door, closing it behind her.

She coughed, as she had done when she first entered the shack, for it was too dusty and smelled awfully musty, not to mention was very messy, with broken and abandoned furniture and stairs and all. Luckily the entrance to the secret passage was just at the feet of the stairs, so she didn't have to go all the way in inside the shack to get to it.

She was slowly climbing down the stairs to the secret passage, after closing the basement door, when she heard footsteps on the veranda. Oh no, not good! It looked like Draco had managed to conquer his fear and decided to follow her in. She immediately sped up her steps, wishing the sound of them didn't reach upstairs, and that Draco wouldn't find the entrance to this passage.

But, of course, sometimes the idiot was just a lucky bastard. Just as Crystabelle was halfway toward the exit, she heard him opening the basement door, which creaked unpleasantly as he did so. Without further ado, she ran across the rest of the way and hurriedly emerged out of the base of the Whomping Willow.

She again heard her name being yelled at, as the sound of his echoing footsteps reached her ears, so she quickly pressed the knot at the base of the tree, in order to immobilize it, before standing up and continuing her run.

She had only ran a dozen footsteps or so, when she heard her name being called out for the umpteenth time that day. Still running, she turned her head around, just to check if she was in a safe distance from her brother. Oh, well, his blond head just emerged out of the hole at the base of the tree, as he took in his surrounding and his eyes glared daggers at her as soon as he found her. And just suddenly, his face turned into a horrified expression.

It didn't take long before she knew why; for something powerful suddenly smacked her painfully on her belly, cutting off her windpipe and forcing the content of her stomach to jerk up into her throat.

The Whomping Willow had not been properly immobilized. And it was now angrily crushing her in one of its branches.

"DRACOOOOO…!" She cried, literally, tears running freely from her eyes, as she helplessly felt the strong arm of the willow smashing her in the air, right and left, up and down; her struggles to escape the dead, too tight grip of the branch were futile.

She heard Draco calling out her name in panic, heard him yelling out curses as she fuzzily saw him run back and forth, trying to avoid the arms of willow and at the same time sending curses at it.

"Dracoooo….." she howled again, this time weaker, as scratches of the branches on her face and arms and all other parts of her body hurt her, and so did the too strong grip of the branch. She began to sob, and wished heartily her brother would manage to save her.

Then she felt the willow stop moving, but that was only a second after the branch holding her stretched out and powerfully threw her out into the air. She felt the wind against her, and then, not long after, splash of icy cold water.

* * *

Draco was getting more alarmingly panic. Just a moment after he managed to breathe in, for finally being able to immobilize the willow, he helplessly saw his sister being thrown into the air, toward the direction of the Black Lake.

He wasted no time, running straightaway toward the lake, which was not that near either. He prayed to all deities in Heaven to help him save her in time, while cursing his ownself for causing her to panic, which was the reason why she hadn't properly immobilized the willow.

He arrived at the lake, but saw no sign of her. He saw two boys -most likely first years- standing nearby, looking out befuddledly at the lake, and immediately grabbed the collar of one of them.

"Where is she? Do you see her? Tell me!"

The boy, whose feet left the ground because of Draco's powerful grip, looked utterly terrified, but did not disappoint him. "We… we only saw something suddenly plunge into the water. Don't know if it's a girl."

"Where?"

"The… There!" He immediately pointed out somewhere not far from the middle of the lake, which was immediately agreed upon by his nodding friend.

Draco immediately released his grip of the boy, barking an order for him and his friend to find some help, and then quickly cast the Bubble-Head charm across his face, clenching his wand in his teeth, taking off his robe, and then plunging into the cold water.

He swam quickly toward the direction that had been pointed out by the boy, wishing that neither the Giant Squid nor other underwater creatures would cause him any obstacles nor harm her. He continued praying that he would be able to save her in time.

He arrived about the point, and then, after looking around and seeing no sign of her, quickly dipped down under the water. He blinked a couple of times, adjusting his sight with the rather gloomy surrounding, before again looking around, hoping to see any glints of her.

But, he found nothing. He was getting panicked as he decided to dip further into the water, casting Lumos as it was getting dark down there.

He almost lost hope when he saw several mermaids encircling something further deep down, amid the sea of giant seaweeds, before he finally caught a glimpse of blond. It was her.

Draco urgently swam toward her, scattering the mermaids away in process. They looked at him with hostility, but did nothing to stop him as he reached out to his pale, lifeless-looking sister.

He grabbed hold of her small waist, and then held her tightly with one arm, while the other cast a charm helping him surge out quickly out of the surface. He swam her across to the lake shore, and as he reached it, someone helped him lift her to the ground, before he pulled himself out of the water.

As he panted, trying to gather his force back, he realized it was the Head Girl.

"Oh my God, oh my God, Crystabelle! Malfoy, we must give her CPR!" she cried urgently, and looked up at him expectantly.

It looked like he didn't meet her expectation, though (he didn't know what the hell she was talking about), as she quickly dismissed him and started moving Crystabelle's head to the side before turning it back to the center.

She then opened his sister's mouth before suddenly attaching hers on it and then blowing air into her lungs.

He looked shocked. "What… What are you doing?"

"Shut up, Malfoy! This needs to be done!" She didn't even look at him as she blew air into Crystabelle's mouth again, again and then again, as her fingers pinched the nose of his sister.

She then lowered her head, more specifically her ear to the younger girl's bluish mouth, listening carefully and watching the younger girl's chest expectantly, before she looked getting more concerned and started blowing air into the blonde's mouth again.

"Please, Crystabelle… Please, you have to wake up," her tone panicked as she continued what she had been doing.

"This is useless! We have to-

But Draco was cut off by his sister's sudden chocking; waters spurred out of her mouth, as her eyes were suddenly wide opened .

"Chrissy!" Draco rushed out to her, grabbing hold of her hand, as she continued to choke and spur water, and dirt, out of her mouth.

"Malfoy, we've got to take her to the infirmary," Hermione said as Crystabelle stopped choking and was now looking very weak, although color began to slowly return to her face.

Draco nodded, and then immediately gathered his sister in his arms, lifting her off the ground. He felt her stiffen, realizing she must be still afraid of him.

He sighed, and then kissed her lightly on her forehead, whispering, "It's okay, Chrissy. I won't do anything to you."

He then felt her relaxing, and drop her head on his chest, so he turned around toward the direction of the castle. Only then he realized there had been a crowd watching them, mostly small kids, including the two boys he had told to find some help.

The crowd parted as he made his way to the castle, carrying his sister, with the Head Girl in tow.

As soon as they arrived at the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey rushed them to a bed, ordering Draco to put his sister there, and then telling him and Hermione to go away as she drew the curtain around the bed.

Draco walked limply toward a corner near the entrance, and then slumped on the only stool there. He ran his fingers through his wet hair, rubbing his face in desperate gestures, as he blamed himself for what had happened with Crystabelle. She was that close to being gone. Had he found her a minute or two to late, or had Hermione failed to make her breathe again soon, she could be… she could be… No, he did not want to think about that.

"It's okay, she will be all right," he then heard Hermione's soothing words, but was too ashamed to himself to answer her nor meet her eyes. He felt her looking at him, though, felt her presence in front of him.

"It's… it's because of me. She would have properly immobilized the Willow; it wouldn't have caught her and thrown her into the lake if I … if I hadn't been stubborn enough to chase her," he confessed.

Silence. Before he finally heard her speak again,

"What important is you've saved her. You've been very brave, swimming inside the must be very cold lake to save your sister. Madam Pomfrey is now taking care of her. She will be all right."

Another silence, for he didn't know what to say, although her words made him feel better.

She then decided to break the silence, "You're injured, too, and look at how a mess you are. Here, let me fix you."

Before he had a chance to respond, he heard her muttering the drying spell, and immediately felt warm and dry.

And then suddenly her soft hand took hold of his left wrist, making his heart beat helplessly faster, before he heard her cast another charm and then saw and felt scratches and injuries on his left hand and forearm disappear. She gave the same treatment to his right hand and arm and looked purely concerned as he finally dared to lift up his head to look at her. She gave him an absent-minded smile as he did so, and her big, beautiful brown eyes were now examining his face, still in purely professional gesture.

She then saw a fairly deep cut just above his left eyebrow (which was strangely dark despite his fair hair color), and instinctively lifted her hand, carefully, to test if the cut had really been dried up as it looked like. He flinched, but didn't make other movements.

"Sorry," she absent-mindedly said, still too absorbed with her acting-nurse activities, as she glanced down to meet his eyes to show him she was really sorry, only to find those swirling grey eyes staring intensely at her, and now move down to her lips. Only then she realized how close their faces were, how his breathing had become labor, and hers suddenly, too.

"I- I'm sorry!" She immediately jumped away from him, looking embarrassed, her cheeks turning red.

She was quick to return to her 'professional' gesture, though, a trait he had learnt about her, which she always did whenever she felt nervous. Draco inwardly relished the fact, although outside he maintained the impassive façade.

"Episky!" she suddenly said, knitting the cut-open skin on his forehead and eliminating other visible scratches and a few bruises around his face.

"There, I've healed your visible wounds, but I think you really need to see Madam Pomfrey for other possible injuries. You can ask for her help after she's done with Crystabelle."

Draco didn't know what to say, so he only nodded, still staring at her. Apparently, that gesture made her nervous again, for now she was clearing her throat and looked fidgety as she glanced at everywhere but him.

"Uhm, well… it looks like Madam Pomfrey will take some time to heal Crystabelle, so I… I'll be back later," she then swiftly turned around and marched toward the exit.

"Thank you," he made her stop just before she reached the door, making her reluctantly turn her head around to look at him.

"And I… I'm sorry, Granger, for what I said about you earlier; in the bookshop. I … I didn't mean it," he added, now looking like he just swallowed a frog, although he was also glancing at her expectantly.

It took some time for Hermione to process what Malfoy had just said, for the word "sorry" just didn't seem to fit the Slytherin Prince's mouth.

"It… it's okay, Malfoy. And you're welcome." In the end she replied him, with a nervous smile, which made her inwardly curse herself for she hated the way she suddenly became nervous around him.

And then he smiled back at her, the first of its kind she had ever seen on his usually smirking or sneering face. Immediately she felt a flutter in her stomach, thus her swiftly continuing of her interrupted fleeing off the infirmary.

She refused to read further into that abrupt fleeing.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Ok-kay... really sorry again for not updating this story for a while. To be honest, the only 4 reviews I got for the last (the 9th) chapter were quite discouraging. Altho the traffic stats show you do read the stories, the fact that barely any reviews have been posted makes me feel that you don't like it, and thus it isn't worth it anymore to continue sparing my time to continue this story. I guess whether or not I will continue will really depend on your responses to this story. So, please review; tell me if you like it or not, or if you have any suggestions or nagging questions. All will be very welcomed! :)**

**Anyway, LOADS of THANKS to the four reviewers of the last chapter!**

**To bzsilver: it looks like Hermione's 'mother instinct' did take over, although she didn't heal him in the library :). So, what do you think of the infirmary scene instead? :)**

**To anna0728: thanks, dear! I'll be _so_ in love with your reviews too, if you keep posting them :)**

**To Amanda: happy that you spare some time to comment as well :D**

**To LaFayette: Thanks! Never heard anyone liking Ernie; mostly in the comments they hate him. Well, but I guess you're right; his silly and insensitive 'claiming' of Hermione, although annoying, is in a way entertaining.**

**(A rather late) Disclaimer (for I'm not sure if I'm really obliged to write one): None of the characters here are mine; they belong to the admirable JK Rowling; excepting our darling Crystabelle of course ... : )**


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